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o V 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN 
THE CAMEL COUNTRY 



By 

A. E. and S. M. ZWEMER 

Ta%zz,% Jotttneys in the Camel 
Cowntry 

Arabia in Picture and Story. 
l2mo, cloth . ... net $i.oo 



Topsy-TtJfvy Land 

Arabia Pictured for Children. 
Decorated, cloth . . . net .73" 




The Desert Scout 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN 
THE CAMEL COUNTRY 



ARABIA IN PICTURE 
AND S T O R r 



By 

SAMUEL M. ZWEMER 

and 
AMY E. ZWEMER 

Authors of " Topsy Turvy Land ' 




New York Chicago Toronto 

Fleming H. Revell Company 

London and Edinburgh 



Copyright, 19", by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 



-^S 



nr 



\\ 



A 



New York: i|8' Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 125 North Wabash Ave. 
Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street 



©CI.A300639 



To 

the children of missionaries 

all the world over 




HEEE is another book of pictures and stories for 
the big children and small grown-up folks who 
enjoyed reading ^'Topsy Turvy Land" and 
want to know more about Arabia. A great part of this 
strange Camel Country is still unknown, and there are 
wide deserts which only the camel and his Arab guide 
have ever crossed. A few travellers and missionaries, 
however, have seen something of Arabia on their zigzag 
journeys along the coasts and inland. Would you like 
to hear the story ? 

The camels are waiting and the caravan is ready to 
start. You will not grow weary by the way, we hope. 
If the desert tracks are long and tiresome through the 
following chapters, just refresh yourself in the oasis of a 
picture. 

( S. M. Z. 
1 A. E. Z. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN ARABIA . .13 

ir. THE CAMEL AT HOME .... 18 

III. ALONG UNBEATEN TRACKS IN YEMEN 25 

IV. GOING TO MARKET TO SOW SEED . 32 

V. WHERE THE QUEEN OF SHEBA LIVED 37 

VI. THE JEWS OF KHEIBAR .... 43 

VII. AMULETS AND OTHER EVERY-DAY 

THINGS 48 

VIII. THE MOST WONDERFUL STONE IN 

THE WORLD 54 

IX. THE CAMEL DRIVER WHO BECAME A 

PROPHET 60 

X. THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGELS . 66 

XI. PEARLS AND PEARL DIVERS ... 74 

XII. A PIONEER JOURNEY ON THE PIRATE 

COAST 80 

XIII. ACROSS THE DESERT OF OMAN . . 86 

XIV. JAIL-BIRDS . . . o , . 95 

XV. THE ACORN SCHOOL , . . .101 

XVI. THE STORY OF A ROLLER BANDAGE 107 

XVII. NAJMA'S LAST CHRISTMAS . . .115 

XVIII. THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD . 119 

9 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

The Desert Scout ..... Frontispiece ,- 

The Big Camel Market in the Crater at Aden 
Where We Preached Our First Sermon, 
1891 14 / 

A Swift Dromedary and an Arab Post-rider . 20 \/ 

A Caravan from Yemen Bringing in Hides for 

American Kid Shoes . . . . . 22»/ 

A Picture Carved in Stone 2,000 Years Old, 
WITH its Inscription, from the Land of 
Sheba 401^ 

The Castle of Kheibat 45i^ 

Water Carts Used at Aden to Bring Water 

from the Wells to the City . . . 46 n/ 

A Woman of the Hill Tribes, Showing Veil and 

Amulets Worn . ... . . .48 

Every-day Things in Arabia . . . .54 

The Black Stone at Mecca . . . . 56 v 

Opening of the Hedjaz Railway . . . 58 ■^ 

When the Arabs Return from Pilgrimage, 
They Load Their Baggage on the Poor, 
Patient Camel . . . . . . 64 l^ 

First Chapter of the Koran . . . . 68 t^ 

11 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



The Evolution of a Pearl Button 
Prayer in the Desert .... 

Map of Oman ...... 

Bedouin Women and Their Children 

A Meccan Boy 

A Bedouin Girl Playing Peek-a-boo on a Camel 
"Arabia" (Song) ...... 



gi»/ 
102 

ii6 

125 



Grateful acknowledgment is given to Mr. J. M. 
Coutinho, photographer at Aden, for permission to use 
several full-paged photographs. And gratitude is also 
expressed here for the use of other pictures taken by our 
missionary friends, the Rev. J. C. Young, M. D., and 
Dr. Sharon J. Thorns. 



12 



I 

ZIGZAG JOURNEYS IN ARABIA 

ZIGZAG are tlie lines across the deserts of Arabia 
that mark the weary journeys of the camel 
caravans for centuries. Arabia has no straight 
roads. The crooked, winding paths through valley and 
along mountainside or over sandy tracks are worn 
smooth by the shuffling feet of the animal-with-the-long- 
neck. Every bit of desert thorn or green herb on either 
side of the path means a step away from the straight line. 
The caravan zigzags towards its destination. The ship of 
the desert makes more tacks in its onward course than a 
sailing-boat with a contrary wind in a narrow harbour. 

The Arab, like the camel, is not in love with straight 
lines. An Arab carpenter cannot draw a right angle, 
and the Arab mason seldom uses a plummet. An Arab 
servant has great trouble in laying a table- cloth square on 
the table. The old Arab temple at Mecca is called "a 
Cube " (Kaaba), and yet has none of its sides and angles 
equal but is a zigzag building. Streets are never parallel 
or at right angles, but go crisscross in all sorts of ways 
except the shortest way. 

And so it came to pass that when the tribes of men after 

the deluge scattered from the Tower of Babel far to the 

south of the big Arabian peninsula they too travelled in 

zigzag lines. Some went to the far east on the Persian 

13 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

Gulf and began to be pearl-divers at Bahrein. Others 
took their best camels all the way across the waterless 
desert of the interior and settled in Oman to become the 
breeders of the finest dromedaries. Others went meander- 
ing southward along the river-beds, called wad!*es, till they 
came to the beautiful mountains of Yemen, green with 
trees and bright with blossoms. Others loved the dry, 
clear, keen air of the high plateau, and making tents of 
goat-hair they lived with their flocks, and are the Bedouin 
tribes of to-day. Still others were driven to the west and, 
because the country was barren and dreadfully hot, 
settled near a spring called Zem Zem, and built the city 
of Mecca. The waters of the spring were good, they 
said, for fever and pain, and so Mecca became a health 
resort and a market-place, and finally a religious centre. 
Every year the distant tribes came in great caravans to 
visit the city and exchange mares, camel-foals and bits of 
poetry. 

The children of Ishmael and other grandchildren of 
*' Father Abraham" also wandered down, and before the 
time of David the zigzag lines of the caravans that carried 
costly merchandise from Persia and India were all over 
Arabia. The single-track roads were as thick as the 
wrinkles on an old man's forehead. But the great trunk 
lines were three : one of them extended from Aden on the 
far south, which was the chief harbour, along the whole 
western stretch of Arabia to Egypt. This was the road 

which the Queen of Sheba took when she came to see 

14 




u 



H 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

Solomon in all his glory. The other road extended from 
Babylon across the desert to Damascus, the oldest city in 
the world ; and the third caravan route, nearly as im- 
portant as the other two, went slant- wise from the mouth 
of the Euphrates River to the old capital of the Queen of 
Sheba, Marib. These three great railroads of the desert 
were busy day after day and month after month and year 
after year for many centuries. Great cities sprang up 
beside these camel tracks, and the ruins of Tadmor still 
show the wonderful importance of old time Arabia. 

But for one reason and another trade chose other chan- 
nels, and Arabia lost its importance. When the Wise 
Men came from the East to Bethlehem's Manger the 
trunk lines were still in existence, but soon after Mo- 
hammed's birth other parts of the world became more 
important, and Arabia became less and less known except 
to those who live in its deserts. 

It had to be rediscovered in the present century, and 
the story of the rediscovery of Arabia is full of interest. 
This story, also, is a story of zigzag journeys. 

Some bold travellers in Europe were anxious to visit 
the birthplace of Mohammed and see the holy city of 
Mecca, and at the risk of their lives, men like Burck- 
hardt, Burton and others reached Mecca and Medina, 
travelling with the Arab caravans and dressed as Moslem 
pilgrims. In 1862 Palgrave made his celebrated journey 
across Arabia from west to east. And in 1876 Doughty, 
one of the bravest travellers, made his long and difficult 

16 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

zigzag journeys through Northwest and North Arabia, 
often in danger of his life. Suffering hunger and thirst 
with the Bedouins, he was driven from place to place 
until he finally got out of the interior safely. 

Even earlier than these well-known travellers were the 
journeys of Cursten Niebuhr in Yemen. In 1763 he was 
sent by the King of Denmark to explore the unknown 
peninsula, and set out with five companions. After many 
wonderful adventures he came back, but he was the only 
one of the five ; the others died in Arabia through fever 
or on the voyage. 

Except for the portion of Arabia seen by those bold 
travellers and by others like them, a great part of the 
country is still unknown. No missionaries have ever 
crossed Arabia although they have made journeys into 
the interior and along the coasts. It is surprising, but it 
is true that the most unknown country in the world to- 
day is Arabia. We have better maps of the North Polar 
regions and even of the moon than we have of Southeast 
Arabia and portions of the interior. 

The barren desert, fear of the Bedouin, always ready to 
rob and waylay the caravan, and the hatred of the Moslem 
for the Christian have closed the country for many years 
against travellers and missionaries ; but, although so long 
neglected, Arabia is now becoming better known. The 
coasts have been explored, and they are actually building 
a railway to-day across the desert from Damascus to 
Mecca and another railway along the northern borders to 

16 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

Bagdad. A few months ago a British traveller crossed 
Arabia in a motor car. How the camels must have been 
surprised ! 

In the chapters that follow, we will take some zigzag 
journeys together, — sometimes on camels, sometimes on 
donkey-back, or in the Arab sailing- boats along the coast. 
"We will not tell you what others have seen or heard in 
this wonderful country of the camel, but tell our own 
story ; and we hope that you will learn to love the Arab, 
his country, and his camel as much as we do, and make 
many a new zigzag track across the map of Arabia to 
mark your journeys as future missionaries. 



17 



II 

THE CAMEL AT HOME 



Mr. and Mrs. Camel 

At Home All Over 

Arabia. 
B. C. 4000- A. D. igii. 



PERSIA for goats, Egypt for crocodiles, Cashmere 
for sheep, Thibet for bulldogs, India for tigers, 
but Arabia for the camel ! To see real live drome- 
daries, you must come to Arabia. For although the 
camel is often met with elsewhere, no country can show 
him in all his beauty like that country which is called by 
the Arabs themselves " Um-el-Ibl," mother of the camel. 
The Oman dromedary is the prince of all camel breeds, 
and is so highly esteemed in the markets of the East as 
to fetch three times the price of any other camel. And 
no wonder that this animal has reached perfection in 
Arabia ! He has been at home in its deserts and trained 
by its tribes for many, many centuries. Arabia and the 
camel are so closely connected that one can neither under- 
stand the Arab nor his language without him. "Without 
the camel, life in a large part of Arabia would at present 

18 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

be imi)ossible. Without the camel, the Arabic language 
itself would lose a vast number of words and ideas and 
possibly also a great many of its difficult sounds. There 
is not a page in the Arabic dictionary which does not 
have some reference to the camel and the life of this 
wonderful ship of the desert. The Arabs give him five 
thousand, seven hundred and forty-four different names, 
but the most common name by which he is known, not 
only by the Arabs but in all languages, is that of " Jemil," 
that is to say, '' camel." 

"When the Ishmaelites brought Joseph to Egypt, and 
when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon, they 
travelled on camels. The caravan was the earliest 
trunk line across the great lands of the East, and has 
probably carried more freight and more passengers than 
the Pennsylvania Railroad or the largest ocean liners. 
Long before wagons were invented, wheat, barley, wool 
and spices came across the desert on camels to Nineveh 
and Egypt. 

Have you ever seen such a desert ship? A large, 
bony animal, six or seven feet high to the top of its 
hump, and rude and ungainly in appearance. Its neck 
is long, but curved beautifully. Its ears are ridiculously 
small, and the upper lip is cleft nearly to the nose, while 
the lower lip hangs down, and gives the whole face the 
appearance of "having the blues." 

The camel has many uses. When too old to carry a 
burden, it is used for food. Camel's milk is very whole- 

19 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

some. Camel's hair is used for making both fine and 
coarse cloths, and the skin is used for sandals, water-bags 
and thongs. 

The dromedary is the swift post-camel, which carries 
its rider on long journeys seventy miles a day on the 
stretch. A caravan of ordinary camels is like a freight 
train and is intended to go slowly and surely with its 
heavy load of merchandise ; but a company of dromedary 
riders is like a limited express. The ordinary caravan 
travels six hours a day and about three miles an hour, 
but a good dromedary can perform wonders on the road. 
A merchant once rode the entire distance from El Kasim 
to Taif and back, over seven hundred miles in fifteen 
days ; and a post-rider at Maan in North Arabia can 
deliver a message at Damascus, two hundred miles away, 
at the end of three days. The ordinary camel is like a 
packhorse, but the dromedary by careful breeding has 
become a race-horse. The camel is thick-built, heavy 
footed, ungainly, jolting. The dromedary has more 
slender limbs, finer hair, a lighter step, a wonderfully 
easy pace and is more enduring of thirst. All the camels 
in Arabia have a single hump. The two-humped camel, 
which you sometimes see in the circus, does not come 
from Arabia, but from Central Asia. As for the ordinary 
camel, his life is as hard as the desert soil and as barren 
of all comfort as the desert is bare of grass. Surely, no 
animal would have more right to feel sulky and dull. 
Always in hard use as a beast of burden, underfed and 

20 




A Swift Dromedarj- and an Arab Post-rider 



INtTHE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

overloaded in the desert land where even a thorny bush 
is considered a tit-bit, and where water costs money, it 
is no fun at all to be a camel. 

Yet to describe the camel is to describe God's goodness 
to the desert dwellers. The Arabs have a saying that 
the camel is the greatest of all blessings given by Allah 
to mankind ; and when Mohammed, the prophet, wished 
to call attention to the providence and loving-kindness of 
God among the Bedouins, who were not at all religious, 
he said, " And will ye not look then at the camel how 
she is created? " With his long neck he is able to reach 
far out among the desert shrubs on both sides of his path- 
way and to eat as he trudges along. The skin of his 
mouth is so thick and tough that it enables him to eat 
hard and thorny plants, the only herbage of the desert. 
The camel's ears are very small so that he can close them 
when the desert storm begins and the sand-drifts come 
like a snow-storm. But his nostrils are large for breath- 
ing and yet can be closed up tight during the fearful 
simoom or hot desert winds. His eyes are protected by 
heavy, overhanging lids against the direct rays of the 
noon sun, and his cushioned feet are adapted for the ease 
of the rider and of the animal himself. Five horny pads, 
one on each knee, and one under the breast, support the 
animal when kneeling to receive a burden or when he 
rests on the hot sand. The camel's hump was nature's 
pack-saddle for the commerce of many lands and for 
many ages. The arched backbone which supports the 

21 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

A R A B I A 

hump is constructed, just like the Brooklyn Bridge, to 
sustain the greatest weight in proportion to the span. A 
strong camel can bear one thousand pounds' weight, 
although the usual load is not more than six hundred 
pounds. The camel is the most useful of all domestic 
animals, as you can see in _the pictures. He can carry 
burdens or draw water or carry the swift post or bring in 
fire-wood from the desert, or grind corn. While still 
living he provides fuel, milk, excellent hair for making 
tents, ropes, and shawls. And when dead the Arabs eat 
his flesh for food, use his leather to make sandals, and 
the big broad shoulder-blades are used as slates in the 
day-schools in many parts of Arabia. A camel march 
is the standard of distance among the Arabs, and the 
price of a milch camel is the standard of value among the 
Bedouins of the desert. The camel is the most patient 
animal in existence, and yet he often has an ugly temper 
and is undoubtedly stupid to a degree. He will never 
attempt to throw you off his back, but if you fall off he 
will never dream of stopping for you ; and if turned 
loose in the desert, it is a chance of a thousand to one 
whether he will find his way back to his accustomed home 
or pasture. When the camel becomes angry, he bends 
back his long, snaky neck and opens his big jaws to 
bite. Do you notice the powerful jaws of the camels in 
the pictures ? Yet with all his faults, his ungainly gait, 
and his ugly appearance, you cannot help loving this 
ship of the desert when once you have made a zigzag 

22 




> 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
journey on camel-back with the Arab caravans. Perched 
high in the air you feel as if you were riding on a church 
steeple or an aeroplane and the swinging, swaying motion 
after you become used to it is as good as that of a pleasure 
yacht in New York Bay when the wind is blowing. Then 
you feel like singing with the Arab poet : 

" Roast meat and milk ; the swinging ride 
On a camel sure and tried, 
Which her master speeds amain 
O'er low dale and level plain." 

There are two lessons we can learn from the camel, and 
I think all the boys and girls who read this chapter will 
like to know them. The first is, hoio to bear a burden and 
never complain. The secret of carrying this burden you 
will see when the caravan prepares for the long journey. 
Every camel kneels down to receive its load in the morn- 
ing ; every camel kneels down to have its load taken off 
in the evening. And that is why he is able to carry his 
burden to the end of the desert road. How much easier 
the great burden of a lost world in need of the Gospel 
could be carried, if we all learned to kneel morning and 
evening ! To kneel and have the Master's hand lay the 
burden on us, and the same hand take it off. Then we 
would feel the responsibility, and yet not miss the quiet- 
ness and rest of real missionary service. Will you not 
kneel to-uight, and to-morrow, and ask Jesus to teach you 
this lesson? Because, you know, the burden of these 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

heathen lands is very heavy. There is on all of them, on 
Arabia too, the burden of sin, and of suffering, and of 
sorrow. What an awful burden ! And yet the Bible 
tells us, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill 
the law of Christ." 

The second lesson is that of patience^ which is the chief 
virtue of the camel, the most necessary virtue for every 
little missionary, and absolutely necessary for every big 
missionary. As the long train of camels goes on through 
the narrow sand path and between the thorn -shrubs of the 
wilderness, step by step, without sound and without ceas- 
ing, tramp, tramp, tramp, I have often thought of the text : 
* ' They shall walk and not faint. ' ' Patient walking is better 
than impatient hurrying, in mission work and everything 
else. Patient waiting, too, you can learn from the camel. 
To wait patiently for results and not to dig up the seed 
we have sown before it sprouts. The Great Husbandman 
has long patience over every seed that He sows ; why 
should not we ? 

" Let us, then, be up and doing, 
With a heart for any fate, 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labour and to wait." 



24 



Ill 

ALONG UNBEATEN TEACKS IN YEMEN 



HP 



HOSE who think Arabia is a sandy desert with 
■ a few nomad tents and camels and ostriches 

-*- scattered over it, have never seen Yemen. 
Yemen is the most fertile and most beautiful of all the 
provinces of Arabia. It means the right hand, and this 
name was given it as one of good omen by the early 
Arabs. It was called by the Eomans Arabia Felix, or 
Happy Arabia, to distinguish it from Arabia Petrea 
(Stony Arabia) and Arabia Deserta (Desert Arabia). 

Those who have never gone inland from Aden cannot 
imagine how very different the hill country is from the 
torrid coast, but a journey of even thirty miles inland is 
convincing. Corn never grew more luxuriantly in Kansas 
or Iowa than in some of the valleys of Yemen. If the 
country had a good government and the people were Chris- 
tians, it would be one of the happiest in the world ; a coun- 
try where the orange, lemon, quince, grape, mango, plum, 
apricot, peach and apple yield their fruit in their sea- 
son ; where you can also get pomegranates, figs, dates, 
plantains and mulberries ; a country where wheat, barley 
and coffee are staple products, and where there is a glo- 
rious profusion of wild flowers — although the camel drivers 
call it grass. Here one can see the nest of the oriole hang- 
ing from the acacia tree, and wild doves chasing each other 

25 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

from the clefts of the rocks, while farther up in the high- 
lands, wild monkeys sport among the foliage of the trees. 

It was my privilege to make two journeys through 
Yemen to its beautiful capital, Sanaa. On my first jour- 
ney (1891) I went by the usual road from Hodeida on the 
coast, but in 1893 I chose the unbeaten tracks from Aden 
directly north, in order to see some of the places not yet 
visited and meet the people. 

At the time of my first and also of my second journey, 
the Arabs were in rebellion against the Turks. They 
have been fighting them now for fifteen years, trying to 
secure their independence, and this year the country is 
more disturbed than ever, but the Arabs have no unity, 
no leadership, and, worst of all, no artillery, and so the 
Turkish government succeeds in crushing the rebellion 
time after time, and holding this province of Arabia in 
her grasp. 

It was five o'clock on Monday morning, July 2d, that 
I set off from Aden with my camel boy Salih, and we did 
not stop until we reached the village of Wahat, nearly at 
noon. Starting again at seven o'clock, we followed the 
Arab custom of marching the whole night with the cara- 
van. There was no breeze, and it was very hot. Vege- 
tation does not begin until you enter Wady Merga. Here 
we had fresh dates, and made our camp under a big acacia 
tree. The road begins to rise rapidly as we follow the 
"Wady northwards, and at midnight we pass Suk-el-Juma, 
or Friday market. This part of the road, they tell us, is 

26 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

dangerous, and so the Bedouins who accompany our 
eighty-two camel caravan swing the lighted wicks which 
they use to fire their flint-lock shotguns. Only one man 
in the party had a Springfield rifle. On July 4th we fell 
in with some Arabs who wanted to seize me as a spy of 
the British government and keep me as a prisoner until 
money was paid for my release. After some difficulty we 
persuaded them that I was not a British subject, and that 
no money would be paid even if they kept me a prisoner 
for many days. 

The following day we had another adventure. Climb- 
ing up the valley and past fields of verdure, where men 
were plowing and women were weeding the gardens, we 
suddenly stumbled upon a Turkish castle, where an un- 
mannerly negro official was in charge. He said no 
strangers were allowed beyond the Turkish frontier, 
seized all my baggage, confiscated my books and maps, 
and sent me under guard to Taiz, the next important 
town. On the afternoon of the same day, a heavy thunder- 
storm burst upon us from a clear sky, the wind became a 
hurricane, some of the camels stampeded, our umbrellas 
turned inside out, and, worst of all, a mountain torrent, 
swollen by the sudden rains and hail, carried away a 
donkey and part of our baggage. Drenched to the skin, 
we at last forced the camels up the slope to the house of 
an Arab, and were hospitably entertained, around a big 
fire which he built, on Arab coffee and sweetmeats. 

We were now three thousand feet above sea level, and 

27 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

it was very cold at night even in July. "We pressed on 
the next day, travelling through a country where every 
one fears his neighbour. I asked my guide why he had 
not prayed since we left Wahat, and his answer was, *' If 
I pray on the road, my heart gets soft, and I fear to 
shoot an Arab robber because he may be a Moslem. ' ' "We 
saw many centipedes and scorpions sleeping after their 
rain bath, and warming themselves on the rocks. Every 
turn of the road brought us in sight of new villages, and 
everywhere the peasants have done their best to cultivate 
the soil by irrigation, until you can count a dozen terraces 
one above the other up the mountainside, in various 
shades of green of the different crops. Once and again 
we met caravans going down to the coast, carrying coffee 
or sheep-hides, as you see in the picture. One could 
hear the approach of a caravan by the camel drivers' 
song. In a high, monotonous key and with endless 
repetition, they would sing verses like this about their 
camels : 

" O Lord, keep them from all dangers that pass, 
And make their long legs pillars of brass." 

Two days later we arrived at the interesting old town 
of Taiz, and I think I was the first "Western traveller to 
visit it since the days of Niebuhr in 1763. "While wait- 
ing for the governor to investigate the seizure of my 
baggage and the question of my passport, I had a good 
opportunity to study the town. Taiz has a population 

28 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

of about seven thousand people ; two or three very old 
mosques with minarets, a Jewish synagogue, and a very 
respectable market. Just back of the town rises a moun- 
tain called the Bride's Castle, from the top of which you 
can see clear across to the African coast. The Turkish 
government takes its own time about such a little matter 
as the inspection of baggage and the granting of a pass- 
port, and it was July 26th before I left Taiz. Even then 
I was not released, but sent on from the local governor 
to the capital under guard of a mounted trooper, who 
rode a beautiful horse, while I followed on a mule. It 
was no hardship, however, to get away from Taiz, and 
once more to breathe the country air and climb the moun- 
tain passes. 

A long day's journey, always climbing up the mountain- 
side, brought us to Ibb, where my servant was imprisoned 
because he had told me the names of the villages. After 
some difficulty he was released, but the incident shows 
how suspicious the Turks are of strangers who travel in 
their country. Twelve hours farther on we came to 
Yerim, an unhealthy town situated near a marsh. It 
was July 29th, but the high elevation and the rain-storms 
brought the temperature down to fifty-two degrees, 
which was a great change from the temperature at Aden 
which, when I left, was 105 degrees in the shade. At 
another village, Maaber, even at noon the temperature 
was not over fifty-six degrees, and we wrapped ourselves 
up as though we were on a polar expedition. In these 

29 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

highlands of Yemen snow falls during the winter season, 
and frost is common. Just after leaving Yerim, we 
passed a large boulder on the road with an impression in 
it as though it were of some one's foot. The Arabs say 
it is that of Ali, the grandson of Mohammed, who came 
along this road, and whenever they pass it they anoint it 
with oil and stop to pray. 

From Yerim on to Sanaa the plateau is more level. 
Wide fields of barley and wheat took the place of coffee 
plantations, and the funniest sight we saw was camels 
hitched up for plowing. What with their long necks 
and queer harness, so much too big for the job, it was an 
odd sight. Damar, a large town with three mosques and 
houses built of stone, was our next stopping place. 
From Damar to Waalan was thirty-five miles, and then 
to Sanaa eighteen miles more. The roads here are splen- 
did and are kept in good repair for the sake of the 
Turkish artillery, although there are no carriages nor 
horses in use. 

On Thursday, August 2d, I entered Sanaa by the 
Yemen gate. Three years before I entered the same city 
from the other side, coming from Hodeida. Handed 
over to the care of a policeman, I waited for the governor 
to hear my case, and after finding an old Greek friend 
who knew me in Aden, and offered to go bail, I was 
allowed liberty, and for nineteen days was busy seeing 
the city and visiting the Arabs. We shall hear more of 
Sanaa in a following chapter. I forgot to say that at 

30 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

Yerim, while sleeping in the coffee shop, I was robbed 
of all my money, and so I ended my zigzag journey not 
only tired out, but a pauper ; and if I had not pawned 
my watch and coat, I would have been in debt to the 
hotel keeper. Pioneer journeys in Topsy Turvy Land 
are not without difficulty. 



31 



IV 
GOING TO MAEKET TO SOW SEED 

THE Arabs are a very old-fasMoned people. In 
fact, their customs have not changed since the 
time that Ishmael as a boy went with his mother 
Hagar on the camels and landed somewhere in Arabia. 
I suppose that even in those old times the Arabs and the 
Syrians kept^ a weekly market where all the people from 
all the villages came together to barter their wares, to 
shake hands and make acquaintance and go back with 
a larger idea of their small world. The custom of 
holding weekly markets on a special day of the week 
even in the smallest villages is still common in Arabia. 
In fact, there are villages that take their name from a 
market day, and are called " Thursday " or *' Saturday " 
because on those days of the week the village takes on an 
air of importance and doubles in population. The Arabs, 
however, do not have the same names for the days of the 
week that we have. Instead of naming them after idols, 
Thursday after Thor and Wednesday after the old god 
Woden, they number the days of the week just as in 
the first chapter of Genesis, and have ''The First Day," 
"The Second Day," etc. The only exception is Friday 
which is the sacred day of the week and the Mohammedan 

Sabbath and is named ''The Day of the Congregation" 

32 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

because then tliey all go to the markets to pray and hear 
a sermon. 

A busy market is held at *'Suk el Khamis" every 
Thursday all the year round, rain or shine (and it gen- 
erally is shine in Arabia), out in the open air near 
the ruins of an old mosque about three miles dis- 
tant from Menama village at Bahrein where the mis- 
sionaries live. The two tall minarets on the mosque 
can be seen from the market. It is one of the oldest 
mosques in East Arabia, and was built several hundred 
years ago and rebuilt several times. Now it is no longer 
used to pray in nor does the call to prayer ever ring out 
from the minarets. The fact is that one Moslem sect 
after another took possession of the building, and in the 
religious disputes that arose the building itself went into 
decay. One part of the mosque is now used for a goat 
pen. The gray square stones of which the mosque was 
once built are scattered about and serve as seats for 
visitors, and every traveller who visits Bahrein climbs 
up one of the minarets and gets a fine view of the islands. 
If you can read the old writing carved on the stones in 
Arabic script, you can see how often this mosque has 
changed hands between the rival parties in the Moslem 
world called Shiahs and Sunnis, and if you should ever 
visit the missionary rooms of the Eeformed Church in 
New York, the secretary there can show you a gavel or 
mallet made from a beam of wood which was once in the 
roof of this very mosque. A piece of the old beam fell 

33 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

to the ground and was made into a mallet to show that 
the religion of Islam in Arabia is decaying and that mis- 
sionaries to Moslems need not be afraid to enter the 
country of Mohammed. 

Every Thursday morning the plain around this mosque 
is a busy scene. How often I have ridden down to this 
market on a donkey or walked in the heat of the sun and 
have seen a thousand or more people crowded together in 
all their bright coloured garments, men and women and 
children, busily engaged in trade, in play, or in quarrels 
over the price of an article ! One man, perhaps, brings a 
load of water jars from the village of Ali. Another has 
a big donkey load of ropes or mats for sale, and still an- 
other brings great baskets of melons, pomegranates, dates, 
limes and vegetables. Women, covered over with their 
heavy black veils and looking very mischievously through 
little peep holes for their eyes, crouch on the ground be- 
fore their little open-air stands where they sell cheap 
jewelry and trinkets or tiny bottles of perfume and black 
antimony powder, which the Arab girls use for their 
eyes. 

The barber is also busy and plies his razor with a deft 
hand while he shaves the heads and beards of those who 
come, charging only a few coppers for the job. The 
breadmaker arrives on the scene very early, and builds 
his small open oven to bake his flap -cakes. He rolls the 
dough on a board, flattens it out with his fingers and then 
tosses it against the sides of the hot oven where it sticks 

34 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
fast and bakes into a large, light, palatable cake. Oh, 
how good such Arab bread is when you are hungry, or 
when you sit down to an Arab guest meal and have it 
served with fresh butter and honey ! 

More numerous and more loud than all the others who 
come are the half- naked Bedouins who come to sell a 
drove of sheep or barter for a couple of camels. They are 
all there this morning : 

" Eich man, poor man, beggar man, thief ; 
Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief ; 
Butcher, baker and candlestick maker." 

And if the candlestick maker, who sells more candles 
than candlesticks, is present, why should the missionary, 
who is sent to bring the Light of Life to men, be absent ? 
As often as possible therefore we visit this market- 
place, and sell books and Bibles or preach to those who 
will listen. It is not at all an easy place to sell or to 
preach, but those who come there witness fine, splendid 
opportunities to meet men face to face, to get acquainted 
and to renew old acquaintance with villagers who come 
from distant parts of the Bahrein Island group. Here it 
is that many a gospel portion has exchanged hands and 
many a story of the power of Christ has been sowed as 
good seed in the hearts of the Arabs in the hope that 
God would use it to make them think of Jesus Christ as 
their Saviour. If books are sold they are often carried 
from here to distant villages, and it is possible to make 

35 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

acquaintance here with Arabs who come from the main- 
land and are visiting the islands, while one is sure to meet 
old friends who have not been able to come to see you for 
a long time. 

One merchant used to keep a dry-goods stand and was 
one of the few Moslems in the early days of our work who 
was always glad to welcome a missionary. When the sun 
was very hot the shelter of his mat-screen was a nice shady 
nook to sit down in and talk with wayfarers. Eight near 
the tall minarets we sometimes discuss the Koran and its 
teachings, and tell the Arabs how the book of Mohammed 
is really a finger-post pointing them to the Gospel and to 
Jesus Christ, the Great Prophet Who is alive forevermore. 
Will you not pray that every Thursday God will bless 
this little acre, the market-place of Suk el Khamis, 
where we sow the seed of God's Own Word, waiting for 
the harvest ? 

' Sowing the seed with an aching heart, 
Sowing the seed while the tear-drops start, 
Sowing the seed till the reapers come 
Gladly to gather the harvest home ; 
Gathered in time or eternity, 
Sure, ah sure, will the harvest be." 



36 



V 
WHERE THE QUEEN OF SHEBA LIVED 

YOU have all read the story given ia 1 Kings x. 
of the Queen of Sheba and her visit to Solomon 
of whose fame she had heard in her distant 
kingdom in Southwest Arabia, but the story as told in 
Mohammed's Bible, the Koran, is very different, and has 
many curious fables mixed up with it. It is found in the 
chapter called " The Ant," and this is how he tells it. 

"We heretofore bestowed knowledge on David and 
Solomon : and they said, Praise be unto God, who hath 
made us more excellent than many of His faithful serv- 
ants ! And Solomon was David's heir; and he said, O 
men, we have been taught the speech of birds, and have 
had all things bestowed on us ; this is manifest excellence. 
And his armies were gathered together unto Solomon, 
consisting of genii, and men and birds ; and they were 
led in distinct bands, until they came unto the valley of 
ants. And an ant, seeing the hosts approaching, said, O 
ants, enter ye into your habitations, lest Solomon and his 
army tread you under feet, and perceive it not. And 
Solomon smiled, laughing at her words, and said, O 
Lord, excite me that I may be thankful for Thy favour 
wherewith Thou hast favoured me and my parents ; and 
that I may do that which is right and well-pleasing unto 
Thee ; and introduce me, through Thy mercy, into Para- 

37 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

dise, among Thy servants the righteous. And he viewed 
the birds, and said, What is the reason that I see not the 
lapwing ? Is she absent? Verily I will chastise her with 
a severe chastisement, or I will put her to death, unless 
she bring me a just excuse. And she tarried not long 
before she presented herself unto Solomon, and said, I 
have viewed a country which thou hast not viewed ; and 
I come unto thee from Saba, with a certain piece of news. 
I found a woman to reign over them, who is provided 
with everything requisite for a prince, and hath a magnif- 
icent throne. I found her and her people to worship the 
sun, besides God." 

The Koran then goes on to tell how Solomon sent her a 
letter, and she sent ambassadors to him, and finally asked 
one of his terrible jinn to bring her to him, throne and 
all, from Southwest Arabia. He did it in the twinkling 
of an eye, and after she saw Solomon and his glory she 
was converted to his religion ! 

Although this latter story of the Queen of Sheba is 
evidently fabulous, there is no doubt that the Bible story 
is true, because recent explorers have visited the country 
of the Queen of Sheba and her old capital Marib, a short 
distance east of Sanaa, and have brought back inscrip- 
tions which tell of the ancient glory of her kingdom. In 
the Old Testament the Sabaeans lived in Sheba, and their 
caravans brought gold and precious stones and spices into 
distant lands. (See Job vi. 19 ; Ezek. xxvii. 22, and 

Psalm Ixxii. 10.) 

38 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

On my first and second visit to Sanaa, the high moun- 
tain capital of all Yemen, I was privileged to look over 
into the borders of the country where the Queen of Sheba 
lived, and on the journey described in Chapter III I 
probably travelled from the coast by the same road which 
was used in the days of Solomon. It is not easy to build 
roads in so mountainous a country. Everywhere one can 
see the ruins of the old Himyarite civilization which 
flourished here from the time of Solomon until the Chris- 
tian era. Some of the roads undoubtedly have been kept 
in repair ever since they were built along the mountain- 
side by these early engineers. Stone bridges across tor- 
rent beds, tanks for holding water, and old castles with 
inscriptions in the strange language, still witness to the 
strength and vigour of this old empire. The accompany- 
ing picture is not that of the Queen of Sheba herself, but 
is undoubtedly that of a princess in the Sheba country. 
It was found among many, many other inscriptions and 
carvings in the land south of Marib, the old capital, 
where the famous dyke was built which was destroyed 
by a flood. When you study the picture, you will notice 
that the woman's dress, with its ornaments and without a 
veil, the use of a throne, the carved pillars, and the page 
boys (or are they girls?) in waiting, are all so very diJBfer- 
ent from the Arabia of to-day. The picture is also inter- 
esting when we remember how the early travellers and 
scientists who copied or brought back these famous in- 
scriptions have confirmed the history of the Old Testa- 

39 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

A R A B I , A 

ment and its many references to South Arabia. One of 
them says : " The Queen of Sheba proved Solomon with 
hard questions, all of which in his wisdom he answered 
her. Now we who study the Old Testament, reversing 
the process, go to the wonderland of that queen with a 
multitude of inquiries, to many of which it has already 
given us a satisfactory reply." 

The capital of the Queen of Sheba, Marib, is largely in 
ruins, but something of the glory of the old civilization 
still lingers at Sanaa, which is at once one of the most 
beautiful and one of the most ancient cities of Arabia, 
built before the time of Solomon. It lies in a wide valley 
7,250 feet above sea level. Jebel Nakum, with its marble 
quarries, rises abruptly like a fortress, just east of the 
city. The town is surrounded by a high wall, and has 
four gates. The houses are many of them four and five 
stories high, built of stone, and as they have no window- 
glass, they use slabs of alabaster instead. The popula- 
tion of the city is about fifty thousand, of whom more 
than twenty thousand are Jews. 

My first visit to the city was in 1891, and the second 
in 1894. The first time I came straight up from Hodeida 
through Menakha, and in four days reached the city. 
The second journey was from Aden northward, leaving 
on July 2d, but what with delays and accidents and im- 
prisonment by the Turks at Taiz, I did not reach Yemen's 
capital until the 2d of August. The most surprising 

thing about Sanaa is not its old ruins, nor the wonderful 

40 







'-WMmimoMim-^ 



A picture carved in stone 2,000 years old. with its inscription, 
from the land of Sheba 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

fertility of the country round about, but the interesting 
character of its population. Here was a large city full of 
Jews who came to this part of the world, as they them- 
selves testified, long before the destruction of Jerusalem ; 
Greek merchants were carrying on a brisk trade in all 
the manufactured articles of Europe with the Arabs of 
the interior ; Turkish army officials in splendid uniform 
trying in vain, as they are to-day, with their regiments 
of Turkish troops to put down Arab rebellions ; and then 
the Arabs themselves, men, women and children, strong 
mountaineers, with love for liberty and heartily despising 
the government of which they are unwilling subjects. 

Looking northward from this city you can see the 
highlands of Asir and the distant road that leads through 
Nejran. All this country was once Christian, and in 
Sanaa itself stood the great cathedral built by the Abys- 
sinian king, Abraha, about the time when Mohammed was 
born. From Sanaa he led his army to Mecca, hoping to 
take the city and convert it to the Christian faith, but he 
was not successful. In the Koran chapter of ''The Ele- 
phant," you may read how the Christians were defeated 
when smallpox broke out among them. Standing on the 
slopes of Jebel Nakum and looking eastward, the country 
of the Queen of Sheba is spread out before you. You 
can imagine I was very sorry that, having been robbed 
of all my money on the way, it was impossible to carry 
out my plan of going from Sanaa to Marib, and from 
there right across Arabia to Bahrein. Perhaps some of 

41 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

you who read these lines will be privileged to make this 
journey. If you are, you will pass through some of the 
most interesting ruins in the world, and the hardships of 
a camel journey will be abundantly compensated by 
what you see on the road. 



42 



YT 
THE JEWS OF KHEIBAE 

NE AELY all of the people who live in the country 
of the camel are Mohammedans, but it was not 
always so. Before the days of Mohammed, 
the prophet, there were very many Christians in Arabia 
and also many Jews. The former lived mostly in the 
southern part of the great peninsula, but the Jews had 
large settlements not only in the country of the Queen of 
Sheba — of which we have heard — but also at Mecca and 
Medina, which are now the two sacred cities, and espe- 
cially in the country north of Medina, Kheibar. Some 
of these children of Israel came to Arabia at the time of 
the captivity when they were driven from their own 
country by persecution, and settled down in the rich and 
fertile valleys of Nejran and on the hills of Yemen. 
Others came to Arabia about the time when Jesus Christ 
was born. 

There are Jews in Arabia still but not nearly as many 
as in the olden time. Their condition, too, is very sad 
and they are often sorely oppressed by the Moslems. 
There is no missionary working among them at present, 
although they have been visited by colporteurs who 
brought them the New Testament in the Hebrew lan- 
guage so that they might read for themselves the story of 

the Saviour Jesus Christ. I once had the pleasure of 

43 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

talking to a large company of Jews in the capital city 
of Yemen, Sanaa, and it was very toucliiug to realize 
that these Jews were not of the number whose ancestors 
rejected Jesus and led Him out to be crucified, because 
as they themselves told me their forefathers had left the 
Holy Land many, many years before Jesus was born at 
Bethlehem. 

But I want to tell you about the Jews of Kheibar. 
Northeast of the city where Mohammed lies buried, Me- 
dina, there is a barren stretch of rocky country and in 
the midst of it a valley where there are some springs of 
water and where with great toil it is possible to produce 
some vegetation. Here it was that thousands of Jews 
settled in the days before Mohammed, tilled the soil and 
lived happily until the Arabian prophet with his fierce 
warriors came preaching a new religion and filling the 
valley with the dead bodies of those who would not ac- 
cept it. 

You may read the story of this expedition of Moham- 
med in the history of his life. So bloody was the battle 
fought between the Jews and the Moslems that the Bed- 
ouins of that region when they see the iron rust on the 
banks of the brooks still say : ''Look how the earth is 
purging itself of the much blood of the Jews that was 
spilled in the conquest of Kheibar." According to the 
stories told by the Arab writers it was a desperate strug- 
gle. The Jews did not give Mohammed, the prophet, 
any easy victory. To defend themselves against Bedouin 

44 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

A R A B I A 

robbers and against assault they had built in the midst of 
their valley several castles or forts, one of which was so 
wonderful that it has very often been celebrated among 
the Arabs. It was called the Castle of Kheibar or Kamoos. 
An old Jewish warrior told the people that if they would 
build a fort in exact obedience to his written command it 
would be so strong that no enemy could overcome them 
or enter the fort. And these were his instructions : 
" Build the castle with eight gates and only one entrance ; 
the walls eightfold and square ; the entrance from the 
fifth ; the second, the fourth ; the third, the first ; the 




THE CASTLE OF KHEIBAR. 



fourth, the second ; the fifth, the third ; the sixth and 
seventh and eighth unchanged. ' ' I will not leave you to 
puzzle over these strange instructions. An Arab friend 



45 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

of mine who told me the story drew the castle for me and 
here you have it. If you will try to find your way to the 
keep of the castle where the Jews defended themselves, 
you will agree that it is not surprising that it took Mo- 
hammed twenty days to storm it. When the castle was 
taken, the booty divided and the captives slain in a most 
cruel manner, Mohammed took Safia, the widow of the 
chief of Kheibar to his tent as his captive. Zainab, the 
sister of the warrior who fought against Mohammed and 
who herself had lost her brother, her husband and her 
father in the battle, tried the next day to kill the prophet 
of Arabia by sending him some mutton into which she 
had put poison, but her attempt at vengeance was not 
successful. The Moslems say it was a miracle that their 
prophet escaped. 

The conquest of the Jews was complete, for all the Jews 
that escaped from the siege of Kheibar were obliged to 
turn Moslems and there never was freedom for the Jew 
again in all Arabia. They are generally heavily taxed, 
have no redress against abuse and repression and are 
looked down upon by all the Moslem population. In the 
capital city of Sanaa they are not even allowed to carry 
arms or to ride in the streets. They must live in a sep- 
arate part of the town and draw water from wells of their 
own. 

At Aden and in other parts of British Arabia the Jews 
are prosperous, but everywhere else their lot is not a 
happy one. The total number of Jews in Arabia is per- 

46 




< 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

haps two hundred thousand. One half of them at present 
live in Yemen and the rest mostly in Bagdad and Busrah. 

The traveller who goes on shore at Aden on his way to 
India never fails to meet the Jews. In fact, they besiege 
every passing steamer and are anxious to sell their wares, 
ostrich eggs, ostrich feathers, coins, and curios. You can 
at once tell them from their peculiar habit of wearing two 
locks of hair in front of their ears. Many of the Jews in 
Arabia are utterly given over to money getting and 
worldly pleasures, but others are strong in their religion 
and look forward still for the hope of Israel. They are 
always glad to purchase the Hebrew Bible and to send 
their children to school. 

Pray for this despised and rejected people there in 
Arabia and everywhere that more may be done for their 
salvation and that missionaries may be sent to work 
especially for these ''lost sheep of the house of Israel" 
who have so long been living in the tents of Ishmael ! 
Perhaps God wants one of you to come out and tell them 
the story of Jesus Christ Who must love them more than 
we do as He is one of themselves. 



47 



VII 
AMULETS AND OTHER EVERYDAY THINGS 

DID you ever see a woman or a girl dressed in such 
a strange way as tlie one in the picture ? Of 
course you know that Moslem women wear 
veils, but this veil is like a window-casing with the panes 
of glass knocked out. It is made of stiff cloth, heavily 
embroidered, sometimes with gilt or silver embroidery, 
and jhas a nose piece and strings to fasten around the 
head. In addition to this curious veil you notice that she 
has three bracelets on each arm, and you can get a 
glimpse of her nose jewel hanging underneath the veil. 
Of course she wears earrings and anklets. The most con- 
spicuous part of her jewelry, however, is the amulet case 
which hangs by a silver chain from around her neck, and 
has beautiful bangles attached to it below. Nearly every 
one in Topsy Turvy Land wears amulets. They are worn 
not 'for ornament, but for protection, and no one would 
think of leaving them at home if he went on a journey. 

Amulets and charms are worn not only by the Arabs 
themselves and to protect their children from the evil eye, 
but they are put over the doors of their houses, and hung 
on camels, donkeys, horses, fishing boats, in fact, any- 
where and everywhere to ward off danger and death. 
Only yesterday a little boy came to our church service, 
whose mother is still a Moslem, and he had hanging from 

48 




A Woman of the Hill Tribes, showing veil and amulets worn 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

his neck a whole collection of curious things, beads, 
bones, sacred relics, etc., all to protect him from the evil 
eye. 

All sorts of things are used as amulets in Arabia, and 
their use is justified by the saying of Mohammed himself : 
" There is no wrong in using charms and spells so long as 
you do not associate anything with God." The most 
common things used as amulets are a small Koran 
suspended in a silver case ; words from the Koran written 
on paper and carried in a leather receptacle ; the names of 
Allah or their numerical value ; the names of Mohammed 
and his companions ; precious stones with or without 
inscriptions ; beads ; old coins ; clay images ; the teeth of 
wild animals ; holy earth from Mecca or Kerbela in the 
shape of tiny bricks, or in small bags. "When the Kaaba 
covering at Mecca is taken down each year and renewed, the 
old cloth is cut up into small pieces and sold for charms. 

The women in Mecca use an amulet of special power 
called ''Mishkash," which is supposed to exercise its 
virtue for the increase of the family. The "Mishkash" 
is really a copy of an old Venetian coin, representing the 
Duke of Venice kneeling before St. Mark on the one side, 
and on the other side is the image of Christ surrounded 
by stars. Of course the women themselves are in total 
ignorance of the inscription on the coin and of its Chris- 
tian character. 

According to the principles of Islam only verses from 
the Koran should be used, but the door of superstition 

49 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

A R A B I A 

once being set ajar by Mohammed himself, as we know 
from the story of his life, it is now wide open. The 
chapters from the Koran which are most often selected for 
use as amulets and put in the little cases shown in the 
picture are Surahs I, VI, XVIII, XXXVI, XLIV, LV, 
LXVn, LXXVIII. There are five verses in the Koran 
called the verses of protection, '' Ayat-el-Hifdh," which 
are the most powerful to defend from evil. They read as 
follows: ''The preservation of heaven and earth is no 
burden unto Him;" ''God is the best protector;" 
"They guard him by the command of God;" "We 
guard him from every stoned devil;" "A protection 
from every rebellious devil." These verses are written 
with great care and with a special kind of ink by those 
who deal in amulets, and are then sold for a good price 
to Moslem women and children. The ink used for 
writing amulets is saffron water, the juice of onions, 
water from the sacred well of Zem Zem, and sometimes 
even human blood. It is very important that the one 
who writes the amulet be a holy man in the Moslem sense 
of that word. We are told in Arabic books on the sub- 
ject (and these books are printed by the thousands) that 
" The diet of the one who prepares charms depends on the 
kind of names of God which he intends to write or recite. 
If they are the terrible attributes of Allah, then he must 
refrain from the use of meat, fish, eggs, honey and musk. 
If they are His amiable attributes, he must abstain from 
butter, curds, vinegar, salt and ambergris." 

50 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

A favourite kind of amulet is called the magic square, 
and I have drawn one here for you. Most of the Arabs 
believe that there are only four elements, earth, air, fire 
and water, and under these four names they have numer- 
ical squares, as you see them, of the numbers one to six- 
teen, and whichever way you add the columns up and 
down or across the total is always thirty-four. Try it. 





EAETH 








WATER 




8 


11 


14 


1 




14 


4 


1 


15 


13 


2 


7 


12 


7 


9 


12 


6 


3 


16 


9 


6 


11 


5 


8 


10 


10 


5 


4 


15 


2 


16 


13 


3 





AIR 








FIRE 




15 


1 


4 


14 




1 


14 


15 


4 


10 


8 


5 


11 


8 


11 


10 


5 


6 


12 


9 


7 


12 


7 


6 


9 


3 


13 


16 


2 


13 


2 


3 


16 



Among the Shiah Moslems, whom we meet everywhere 
in East Arabia, the most common amulet is called Nadi- 

51 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

Alt. It consists generally of a lead or silver plate with 
little bells at the bottom, inscribed with these words ; 

"Cry aloud to Ali ; he is the possessor of wonders, 
From him you will find help from trouble. 
He takes away very quickly all grief and anxiety 
By the mission of Mohammed and his own sanctity." 

There are innumerable cases where such amulets are 
used for the cure of disease. The native doctors firmly 
believe that when every remedy fails, the book of Allah, 
if properly administered, internally or externally, will 
drive away pain and cure the patient. 

The hospitals and book- shops and schools will doubt- 
less in time drive out the use of amulets in Arabia, and 
the march of civilization, with its modern scientific 
miracles and spirit of investigation, is also a means to that 
end. Nevertheless, I have known of cases where printed 
Arabic gospels were bought to be used as amulets and 
where patients tried to rub off ink from the printed paper 
used to wrap powders in at the hospital, in order to drink 
the solution as a remedy. 

There are other things in Arabia which, though not 

amulets, will strike you as very strange. First there is 

the market basket, deftly woven out of palm leaves. 

When this is smeared with bitumen inside, it will hold 

water as well as an American pail or a bucket. The 

Arab broom is made of palm leaf fibre, with a short 

handle, and the dish cover below it is also made of palm 

fibre and rope, and is beautifully stained with colours, 

52 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
and when they bring in a dish of Hassa dates to enter- 
tain guests, such a cover is always put on to protect it 
from the flies. 

The sewing basket and the fan and the woman's sandals 
are also very interesting. The men's sandals, as well as 
the women's sandals, have a peg or leather thong, which 
goes between the big toe and the one next to it, and by 
which they cling to their footgear in a way that would 
surprise you. Because the women's slippers are made of 
wood, you can hear their footsteps when they are a great 
way off, and the clap- clap of the women's sandals is a 
familiar sound to all of us here in Arabia. 

What do you think of their beautiful furniture ? There 
are small tables used to hold water jars or trays of food, 
and folding bookstands cleverly made out of one piece of 
hard wood that fold up for a journey. Larger bookstands 
are made of date sticks and are strong enough to support 
a big volume of the Koran. The Arabs love to sit and 
swing back and forth as they chant its chapters. And 
lastly is something that looks very much like an amulet, 
but which is a traveller's bag for bread and dates, often 
fastened to the camel saddle by leather thongs. Bread 
or dates kept in such a receptacle will keep moist for 
many, many hours in the hot, dry climate of Arabia. 

The Arabs are not skilled as the Japanese and Chinese 

are with tools, nor are they much given to art of any kind, 

but you must admit that such every-day things are many 

of them artistic and some of them really beautiful. 

63 



vni 

THE MOST WONDERFUL STONE IN THE WOELD 

THE Ten Commandments were written on two 
tables of stone but these original stones are lost ; 
tbe High Priest Aaron had twelve most precious 
stones in his breast plate when he went into the holy place 
to minister ; Jacob placed a stone for a pillow when he 
fled from his brother, but no one has found this old 
memorial. Many other wonderful stones are held almost 
sacred because of past history. Stone worship is one of 
the oldest forms of idolatry. The old Druid stone in 
England, where the priests offered sacrifice during their 
worship and where even human blood was spilt in the 
name of religion, are examples. 

Plymouth Eock is also a famous stone from its part in 
history. It marks the place where the Pilgrim fathers 
landed in 1620. There have also been precious stones 
which have had a remarkable history and for which much 
money and often life was sacrificed, and then none of the 
boys can forget the pebble which David found in the 
brook and which was the weapon of his victory over great 
Goliath. 

But the most wonderful stone in the world to-day is 
none of these that I have told you of. It is the Black 
Stone of the old idol temple in Arabia, now the centre of 
Mohammedan worship. 

54 




Everyday things in Arabia 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

The greater number of the tribes of Arabia in Moham- 
med's day, if they had any religion at all, were little 
better than fetich worshippers, each tribe having its own 
idol or god, which in many cases was some peculiar tree 
or rock in their territory, around which they built rude 
shrines, and to which they made pilgrimages. From 
time immemorial, however, there was one fetich which the 
whole race seemed to regard as peculiarly sacred, and that 
was the Kaaba, or sacred stone of Mecca. It is probable 
that this stone was a shooting star, which, falling from 
heaven in the presence of spectators, became ever after an 
object of superstitious veneration, just as the stone of 
Diana of Ephesus became the centre of worship for the 
Greek world. The tribe to which Mohammed belonged 
had held for several generations the office of stewards 
to this great national shrine, to encourage the flocking 
of pilgrims to the Kaaba. From this source the wealthy 
families of Mecca got the great part of their money. 
They admitted impartially figures of all the idols of the 
tribes from one end of Arabia to the other, so that each 
man might feel at home when he arrived there for his 
devotions. 

When Mohammed had fully established his new religion 
he turned out all the old deities except the Black Stone, 
which he himself worshipped, and concerning which wor- 
ship he left minute . directions for his followers. Such 
was the inconsistency of the prophet whose creed was 
"There is no god but Allah." The object of the pil- 

55 



ZIGZAG JOUR N E Y S 

ARABIA 

grimage as instituted by Mohammed was to worship the 
Sacred Mosque and Kaaba. According to Moslem 
writers, the Kaaba was built by Adam, exactly under 
the spot occupied by God's throne in heaven. It is an 
oblong building in the centre of the mosque, covered with 
a black cloth, and in it is the sacred Black Stone which 
came down from heaven snow-white, and was turned 
black by the sins of the people. 

The Black Stone is located on the southeast corner of 
the Kaaba, about five feet from the ground. It is prob- 
ably an aerolite, black and sprinkled with lighter patches 
and came down as a falling star. Many years after 
Mohammed's death it was stolen by some of the Arabs on 
the Persian Gulf and carried across the desert to Katif ; 
when it was carried back again it fell from the camel on 
its long journey and was broken. Now a silver band 
holds the pieces together and the whole stone is im- 
bedded in the wall. 

It is necessary for every Moslem to visit Mecca at least 
once during his lifetime. When all these pilgrims ar- 
rive within a short distance of the Holy City, they must 
put off their every-day clothing and put on the pilgrim 
garb, which consists of two pieces of white cloth, — one 
tied around the loins and the other drawn over the shoul- 
ders, under their arm, leaving one shoulder bare. The 
pilgrims are allowed to wear sandals, but not shoes. 
Thus clad every one goes in turn to the sacred well of 
Zem Zem, washes his whole body with a pailful of the 

56 




P3 



H 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

water, and then drinks as much as he cares. Then he 
enters the " door of peace " and kisses the most wonder- 
ful stone in the world, running around the Kaaba seven 
times and each time when he passes the stone he strokes 
it with his hand or kisses it. After this all the Moslem 
pilgrims say the regular prayer and retire. 

The next day, those who are seeking Paradise aloug the 
zigzag road of Mohammed's religion must do other things 
as well. They must visit the place where Abraham is 
supposed to have stood, when he rebuilt the Kaaba. 
Then they must run between the mountains of Safa and 
Milra, two little hills near Mecca, and do other things 
every day until the sixth day, when all the pilgrims 
surround the Kaaba as they did on the first day. On 
the seventh day the sermon is preached from the great 
pulpit in the middle of the building. The preacher no 
doubt urges all those who are present to persevere in their 
religion and make converts among the nations. It is a 
large gathering indeed which comes to Mecca. Between 
seventy and eighty thousand people travel every year to 
visit the city from every part of the Moslem world, — 
Europe, Asia, Africa and the islands of the sea. After 
the sermon is over two more days are spent in various 
visits to' sacred places around Mecca and then comes the 
greatest day of all, which is celebrated all over the 
Moslem world, namely, the day of Sacrifice. 

Although Mohammedans deny the death of Christ 
and the need of an atonement for sin, it is strange that 

57 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

this great feast should still be a feast of sacrifice, like 
that of the Jews of old. Ev^ery earnest believer takes a 
goat, a sheep or a camel, places it so as to face the Kaaba 
and plunges a knife into its throat as he cries out — ''God 
is great and Mohammed is His apostle." When the 
sacrifice is over the pilgrim is allowed again to shave his 
beard and trim his nails and put on his ordinary cloth- 
ing, all of which was forbidden during the ten days of 
pilgrimage. He is also given a certificate stating that he 
has finished the pilgrimage and is now ready for Para- 
dise, or words to that effect. 

The most of the pilgrims who come back from Mecca 
are not any better for going, because the city is the centre 
not only of diseases such as cholera and plague, which 
cause the death of many, but is also the centre of im- 
morality and wickedness. 

Although travellers have visited Mecca by pretending 
to be Mohammedans and at the risk of their lives, no 
Christian, were he known to be so, would be allowed to 
enter the sacred city. The first European to visit Mecca 
was an English sailor boy, called Joseph Pitts, who was 
captured as a slave in Algiers and taken to Mecca against 
his will. He was forced to become a Moslem, but after- 
wards escaped to England and wrote a book on what he 
had seen. 

The new railroad which is now being built by the 

Turkish government from Damascus to Medina and on to 

Mecca will soon be completed, and who can say whether 

58 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
it will not open up the whole country to the Gospel ? 
A big American locomotive will soon be puffing steam 
and sounding its whistle right near the Kaaba, over 
against the most wonderful stone in the world. 



59 



IX 

THE CAMEL DEIVEE WHO BECAME A PROPHET 

IF one could have all the boys of the world pass by in 
single file and take down their names one by one, 
there would be a great many who bore the same 
name. Johns and Henrys and Carls and Hans there 
would be by the thousands, but there would be no name 
which so many boys had in common, I am sure, as the 
name of Mohammed. It is a very safe estimate to say 
that there are living in the world to-day no less than five 
million boys and men who bear that name. 

Yet I wonder how many of you know who Mohammed 
was, where he lived and died, and why he has such a 
world-wide reputation 1 He was a poor orphan ; his 
father died before he was born and his mother only a few 
years after, but although he was so forlorn and lived in a 
very barren part of Arabia, in one of the valleys of the 
city of Mecca, he had powerful relatives who were kind 
to him and helped him. He was born in the year 
570 A. D., about a thousand years before Columbus dis- 
covered America. His mother's name was Amina, which 
means faithful. 

There are many strange stories told about him when he 
was a boy. One story is that while he was away in the 
desert with his foster brother, living with the Arab tribes 
and growing strong by exercise and drinking camels' 

60 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

milk, one day two men dressed in white came and threw 
him on the ground. They then took out his heart, by 
opening his breast, and squeezed out a drop of black 
blood, and put the heart back again, closing up the 
wound. The Arabs believe that in this way he got rid of 
his original sin and was made pure. As a boy he was 
pleasing and industrious, and won the name of ''the 
faithful one." However, at the time of Mohammed's 
childhood, morals and manners in Mecca were as bad as 
possible, and he did not have many good influences to 
help him in the right way. 

When he was about twelve years old, his uncle, Abu- 
Talib, took him along on a journey to Syria, as far as 
Bozra, a town that is mentioned in the Bible, and not the 
same as Busrah on the Persian Gulf. This journey lasted 
for some months, and it was at this time that Mohammed 
met a Christian monk, who, it is reported, told Abu- 
Talib to take good care of the youth, for great dignity 
awaited him. 

On this journey ^Mohammed for the first time came in 
touch with Christianity, and was surely impressed by^the 
national and social customs of Christians ; and being a 
bright boy, he was easily able to see the difference be- 
tween the habits and religion of his own nation and those 
of the Christians. It was after this journey that he was 
anxious to reform the dreadful idolatry and wicked ways 
of the Arabian people. From the age of twelve to twenty 
he lived in the usual manner of the boys of his day, tend- 

61 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

ing sheep on the hillsides and valleys of Mecca, and he 
was so honest and pure and fair during these years, and 
such a contrast to those around him, that everybody gave 
him the name I told you of— Al Amin, i. e., " the faith- 
ful." During this time, too, he learned something of 
what war was like, for he went with his uncles on two 
expeditions to fight against another tribe. When Mo- 
hammed was twenty-five years old, his uncle suggested 
that he should take charge of a caravan for a rich lady 
living in Mecca, and trading products of Mecca for other 
things from Syria and other parts of Arabia. On this 
journey Mohammed again came in contact with Chris- 
tians and Jews, and he must have noticed, too, how, 
while professing to serve and love the one true God, they 
always seemed to be quarrelling about their religion. 
Perhaps he saw the truth in both systems and afterwards 
thought he could make out of them one simple creed and 
unite all mankind in the worship of the only true God. 

After his return from this trip, he was married to Kha- 
dijah, by whom he had been employed as camel driver, 
making zigzag journeys across the country to sell and ex- 
change his merchandise. After his marriage he lived 
happily, so we are told, until his fortieth year, when he 
began to have dreams, and became persuaded that God 
had called him to be a prophet. Many "verses of the 
Koran were recited and written down. Mohammed 
wanted most of all at this time that his countrymen should 
put away their idols and worship only Allah, but some 

62 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

of them were very angry and would have killed him, if 
he had not hidden. 

Mohammed and Khadijah had six children, but most of 
them died when they were young. His daughter Fatimah, 
when she was old enough, was married to her adopted 
brother, Ali ; her name is very much honoured and used 
by Moslems everywhere. 

Sometimes Mohammed would have his dreams very 
often, and then again he would go a long time without a 
revelation. But he began to believe in himself and told 
his visions to others, and they too began to believe in 
him as a prophet of God. His relatives were the first 
ones to come out and follow the new religion. He wanted 
to take the idols out of the Kaaba at Mecca, and preached 
against idolatry, and for this reason the keepers of the 
Kaaba were very angry and persecuted him for his preach- 
ing. When the persecution became too bad, he then re- 
canted or withdrew some of his statements in regard to the 
idols and the true worship, and he told them he had had 
a vision or revelation that they might retain their most 
important gods, or rather, the favourite ones. But after 
a few days he repented of this leniency, and told the 
Meccans he had made a mistake and all the idols must be 
destroyed, and they must worship Allah only. The peo- 
ple began to treat him badly and they would have killed 
him if he had not fled to Medina. The persecutors fol- 
lowed him and nearly overtook him, when he came to a 
cave and slipped inside, and one tradition says that after 

63 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

the prophet (on him be prayers and peace) had gone in- 
side, some pigeons came and sat on the edge of the cave ; 
also a spider quickly wove a web across the mouth of the 
cave and when his pursuers came and looked they said : 
*'He is not in there, for see the pigeons and the spider's 
web ; he cannot be inside," and thus God preserved the 
life of Mohammed. Afterwards those men turned back, 
and he came out of the cave and went on to Medina. 
And there his religion prospered, and Mohammed saw a 
vision of the power he might hold, so little by little the 
stern purpose of his life — to cleanse his people from idol 
worship — became weaker. He gave in, here a little and 
there a little, and gave to his followers many harmful 
privileges, which he said were revelations from the Angel 
Gabriel to him. These same privileges have degraded 
the nations they have governed, and the religion of the 
sword and of plunder appealed to the human heart more 
than spiritual things possibly could. He soon gained 
many thousands of followers, and grew strong and bold, 
and began to organize bands to go out and kill and des- 
troy all who would not follow the new religion. 

And thus the camel driver became a great prophet. 
His name to-day is called out five times a day from the 
minarets (i. e., mosque steeples) in Central Asia, along 
the shores of the Mediterranean, in the heart of Africa, 
in India and the islands of the sea, as well as all over 
Arabia and Persia and the Turkish Empire. And if you 
wish to help bring back these nations to Jesus Christ and 

64 




< 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

away from Mohammed, you must be up with the muezzin 
before the dawn, and pray and call others to prayer and 
work in earnest, so that the children of this generation 
may have a chance to learn about our Saviour and theirs, 
and of all the helpful things He has taught us. 

" Hark ! 'Tis the muezzin's cry ; 

Pray, children, pray ; 
Moslems in darkness lie, 

Pray, children, pray. 
Thousands in bondage die ; 
O hear, while moments fly, 
Yours is a calling high : 

Pray, children, pray." 



65 



THE LANGUAGE OF THE ANGELS 

THE Arabs are a proud and noble race. They 
are proud of their liberty and of their free open- 
air desert customs. They are proud of their 
religion and of their prophet. They are proud of their 
history and of their patriarchal descent. But most of 
all, they are proud of their language, one of the oldest 
and most wonderful forms of human speech. Mohammed 
himself in his Koran, which you know is the Moslem 
Bible, speaks of the Arab tongue as *' the language of the 
angels." He and the Arabs believed that Adam and 
Eve spake Arabic in Paradise, and that the language of 
revelation in which God spoke to His prophets, Abraham, 
Moses and Solomon, was none other than the language of 
the desert, the speech of the Arabs. 

One of the most learned Arabs who lived about three 
hundred years after Mohammed said: ** The wisdom of 
God hath come down upon three things : — the brain of 
the Franks, the hand of the Chinese and the tongue of 
the Arabs. ' ' What this Arab philosopher meant was that 
while the people of Europe are distinguished for their 
power of invention and discovery, the Chinese are dis- 
tinguished as artists and artisans, but the Arabs are all 
of them born orators and poets. The people of Europe, 
he meant to say, have brain power, the people of the 

66 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

A R A B I A 

Orient skill in handicraft, but the Arabs, eloquence. 
If you will read the Book of Job, which was doubtless 
written in Arabia and describes early Arabian life, or 
read the latter chapters of Mohammed's Koran, or better 
still some of the Arabian poetry, you will appreciate the 
truth of this wonderful statement. 

The first thing that is remarkable about the language 
of the Arabs is its wide- spread use. Like English it has 
spilled itself all over the map of the world, far beyond its 
original limits, and like English it was carried by com- 
merce and by conquest, by merchants and by mission- 
aries. 

Some time ago an American typewriter firm in adver- 
tising a machine with Arabic characters made the state- 
ment that the Arabic alphabet is used by more people 
than any other alphabet in the world. Some one thought 
that this was an exaggeration, and asked a professor of 
languages, "How big a lie is that?" He answered: 
*'It is true." The total population of all the countries 
whose inhabitants use the Arabic "ABC " — if they use 
any at all — is larger than the number of those who use 
the Latin alphabet or the Chinese character. The Arabic 
Koran is read by the Moslem boys in the day-schools not 
only of Arabia, but of Turkey, of Afghanistan, Persia, 
Java, Sumatra, the whole of North Africa and through- 
out Central Asia. In the Philippine Islands there are 
three hundred thousand Mohammedans whose only 
alphabet came from Arabia, and as far west as the 

67 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 




FIRST CHAPTER OF THE KORAN 
68 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

mosques of Morocco the Arabic tongue has travelled and 
become the language of law and commerce and religion. 

When the early Arabs in their conquests crossed the 
strait between Africa and Spain and conquered that 
country they left many words behind. And therefore 
many of the place names in Spain to-day are Arabic. 
Gibraltar, for example, is the corrupted form of Jebel 
Tarik, which means the mountain of Tarik, the Arab 
general who first crossed the straits with his soldiers. 
And Quadiliquiver, one of the rivers of Spain, should be 
spelled Wady El Kebir, or the Big Eiver. 

Even the English language has a number of words that 
came as Arab guests to the feast of reason and have been 
adopted into our family and put into our dictionary. 
When you speak of algebra, ciphers, zero, alchemy, alcove, 
minaret, alcohol, coffee, sofa, amber, artichoJces, gazelles or 
magazine you are using good Arabic words which nearly 
every Arab would understand. To use these words, 
however, is quite a different thing from speaking ''the 
language of the angels " correctly. It is easier to borrow 
a carpenter's jack-knife than to acquire his skill in build- 
ing a house. Many languages have borrowed from the 
Arabs and the Arabs have borrowed from them in return, 
but no language is richer than the Arabic in its number 
of words. 

Would you like to know how the boys and girls talk in 
Arabia? If you have read "Topsy Turvy Land" you 
will remember how they write their words backward and 

69 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

begin to read at what we call the end of the book. Their 
talk as well as their writing seems to us at first very 
topsy turvy. Of course, I need not tell you how much 
they talk, for in that respect they are just like the boys 
and girls in America. As they speak a language, how- 
ever, very different from English, I am sure you would 
like to hear a little about it. Arabic is one of the oldest 
and most beautiful languages, and also one of the hardest 
to learn. It has so many words that their name for a 
dictionary is "Kamoos," which means ^' an ocean." 
They have five hundred different names for a lion and 
two hundred words for serpent. It is said that there are 
one thousand different terms in Arabic for sword, and 
eighty different words for honey. 

Like English the Arabic language has grammar with 
many rules (and more exceptions) and the boys dislike it 
just as much as some of you do. They have a severe 
struggle with the alphabet because each letter has three 
different forms, as it is used in the beginning, the middle 
or the end of a word ; and then there are but fifteen con- 
jugations and twenty different ways of forming the plural, 
not to speak of all the moods and tenses and the irregular 
verbs. 

Some people think that Arabic is the most difficult 
language in the world. Keith Falconer, the first mis- 
sionary to Arabia, said, "Arabic grammars should be 
strongly bound because learners are so often found to 
dash them frantically on the ground." Another mis- 

70 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

sionary said that he would rather cross Africa from 
Alexandria to the Cape of Good Hope than undertake a 
second time to master the Arabic speech. 

I shall never forget my early struggles with the lan- 
guage, nor the place where I sat down to learn my 
lesson with Dr. Cornelius Van Dyke. He was a master 
of Arabic and with Dr. Eli Smith translated the whole 
Bible into the Arabic speech. Here it was in the shade 
of his beautiful veranda at Beirut, Syria, that I began to 
learn the irregular verb. It takes a long time for 
grown-up people to learn a new language, but it does not 
seem hard for the Arab boys and girls. 

Beside the proper talk of grown-up people there is baby 
talk in Arabia which mothers teach the little brown 
toddlers before they walk out of the mat-huts and the 
black, camel-hair tents into the wide world. Yes, and 
there are also slang words which the camel drivers and 
the donkey boys use with and on each other. 

The baby talk is much like English. Father is haba ; 
dog is looiDwov) ; pretty is noonoo ; stop is tootoo ; chicken 
is JcooJcoo, and when baby falls they say baff! 

The language of these little angels and the grown-up 
ones in Arabia is very poetical. The Arabs, because 
they live in the desert and look up into the big, blue sky 
and far out to the horizon where the mirage paints desert 
pictures every day, are full of imagination and live in an 
atmosphere of poetry. They love jingling words and 
proverbs and pretty sayings and figures of speech. 

71 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

A mosquito baa only a sting in New Jersey. In Arabia 
they call him aboofas, which means *'father-of-an-ax" ! 
In America a tramp is a tramp, but the Arabs call him a 
son-of-the-road. And what could be prettier than their 
name for echo, bint-el-jebel, '' daughter of the mountain " ? 
Why, there is a whole fairy story in that one word ! And 
if you go down the columns of the Arabic dictionary you 
can find many a story locked up in some word and only 
waiting to be opened. 

In North Arabia when they say, ''How-do-you-do," 
the proper expression is, ''What is the colour of your 
condition 1 ' ' This may be philosophical, but it does not 
make good sense in English. Strawberries are called 
French mulberries, and the name given to potatoes when 
first brought to Bahrein was aliyeywellam ; why this name 
was given, I cannot tell. Where could you find a better 
name for wine than the Arab um-el-khabaith, "mother of 
vices" ? No wonder all the Arab children are staunch 
prohibitionists. And you will know more about the 
nights in Arabia when I tell you that the common name 
for jackal is ^'' son- of -howling ^^ ! 

" The language of the angels " is not altogether lovely 
and beautiful ; alas, it bears the marks of a false religion 
all over it like scratches on marble or ink-stains on a 
beautiful piece of handwriting. Mohammed's life and 
Mohammed's teaching were not like the life and teaching 
of Jesus Christ, and so the Arabic language abounds in 
words that are not pure and not lovely. The mission- 

72 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

aries in Egypt and in Syria have done much to purify 
and elevate the language of the Arabs by giving them 
Christian books and papers and above all the Holy Bible 
in their own tongue. The Arab children in the mission 
schools now sing Christian hymns and many of the stories 
that you love to read, such as "Ben Hur" and "Black 
Beauty" and " Eobinson Crusoe," have been translated 
into Arabic. At the Beirut [press alone about twenty- 
five million pages of Christian books are printed every 
year. 

When the Bible takes the place of the Koran, the Arab 
speech with all its beauty and strength will become more 
than ever "the language of the angels." 



73 



XI 
PEAELS AND PEAEL DIVEES 

NEAELY all the British India steamers in their 
zigzag journeys up the Persian Gulf, calling 
first at the Arabian coast and then at the 
Persian coast, stop at the pearl islands of Bahrein. Half- 
way up the Gulf and thirty miles from the mainland of 
Arabia, this group of islands has been famous for cen- 
turies as the most valuable pearl fishery in the world. 
For at least two thousand years the Arabs have been 
diving in these waters and bringing up the costly shells. 
Before the days of Christ, and even before the time of 
Solomon, pearls from Bahrein were shipped to the West- 
ern world, and it is probable that the dress and the con- 
versation of the men and the boys of to-day is about the 
same as it was a thousand years ago. The boats are 
probably of the same pattern, with very little improve- 
ment, 

Bahrein is an Arabic word which means the two seas, 
and this name was given to the islands because the Arabs 
fancied that here two seas met, the fresh water and the 
salt water mingling together. The islands have very 
little rainfall — during the summer none at all — and yet 
they are famous for their fresh- water springs, which find 
their source on the mainland of Arabia or Persia, and 
the water not only bubbles out in pools and wells on 

74 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

shore, but below the tide level there are fresh-water 
springs several miles out at sea. You would be inter- 
ested to see the Arabs go out in their boats, place a bam- 
boo over the opening in the rock and then collect fresh 
water above sea level in their great leather skins. 

Bahrein is historically most interesting, because here the 
old Chaldeans and Phoenicians made their home. Some 
of the mounds on the island are older than the ruins of 
Babylon, and it is said that the Phoenicians worshipped 
the fish-god who, it is supposed, carried Noah's ark over 
the flood. 

The pearl fisheries at Bahrein employ about 3,500 
boats, large and small. The boats measure from one to 
fifty tons. The smaller boats carry from three to fifteen 
men and work near the shore ; the large boats, employing 
from fifteen to thirty men, fish all over the Gulf. It is a 
pretty sight to see the fleet sailing out of the harbour, 
the large sails, set to the wind, gleaming white in the 
sun, the blue waters underneath and the bluer sky over- 
head. Have you ever seen a diving outfit? It looks 
rather ungainly to me. The Arab divers do not use any- 
thing so elaborate as do the divers in America. White 
overalls to cover their dark skin (because they say sharks 
do not care for white people), a /atom, or clothes-pin on 
the nose, and leather thimbles for scratching up the 
shells, and a basket to hold the catch, with a rope at- 
tached to a girdle to draw them up with — this is the 
complete outfit. When prayers have been said and a 

75 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

A R A B I A 

Bismillahf down he goes, quickly fills the basket, and 
with a tug on the rope, he is hauled up, his basket is 
emptied while he takes a short breathing spell, then 
down again ; and so on from sunrise to sunset. 

The divers pass through many dangers in bringing the 
pearls from the bottom of the ocean to the surface. 
Sharks are the most terrifying, and during the pearl 
season a number of divers lose their lives, or are maimed ; 
a leg or an arm has to be amputated because the cruel, 
sharp, powerful mouth of the shark caught the fisherman 
while he was seeking goodly pearls for us. A large 
number of them are afflicted with rheumatism as a con- 
sequence of their calling. In the boat, besides the men 
who are doing the work, is a man who is a substitute for 
them in prayer. The divers are too busy to observe the 
stated hours of prayer, so this man will repeat the prayers 
in place of each man. He is the Levite, and performs the 
religious ceremonies for every other man and boy. He 
must be occupied all the time on the boats where there is 
a crew of thirty men, and he must say the prayers five 
times a day for each man. 

The Arabs say that pearls come from a raindrop which 
fell while the oyster had its mouth open ; each drop of 
rain thus caught is a prize for the diver. '' Heaven born 
and cradled in the deep blue sea," it is the purest of gems 
and, in their eyes, the most precious. When the pearl 
oysters are brought up, they are left on deck over night, 
and next morning are opened by means of a curved knife 

76 




The Evolution of a Pearl Button 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

six inches long. Until a few years ago, all the shells were 
thrown back into the sea as useless, but now they are 
brought to shore by the ton and deposited in some mer- 
chant's yard. He employs natives to scrape off the out- 
side roughness, and then they are packed in wooden 
crates and exported in large quantities. 

On shore the pearls are classified according to weight, 
size, shape, colour and brilliancy. You would think the 
pearl merchants a strange kind of people. They carry 
the most valuable pearls around with them everywhere, 
tied up in turkey-red twill. They have no safes nor 
banks, so the only safe way they can think of is to carry 
them around and run the risk of being knocked down 
and robbed ; but since the Indian government has made 
Bahrein a protectorate, such robberies are rare. 

The pearl merchants are called tawaicis, which means 
those who handle the brass sieve, or tas. When the 
pearls are brought on shore, they are classified according 
to size first of all, and to do this, each merchant has a 
nest of beautiful sieves fitting one into the other. The 
smallest has holes as big as the end of a pencil, and they 
go down gradually in size until the largest sieve, which is 
about six inches across, has holes as fine as mustard seeds. 
Any day during the pearl season you may see the Arab 
merchants sitting cross-legged in their houses, sifting 
pearls, and when they are classified and piled up in little 
heaps, white and shining in the bright sunlight on the 
red cloth that covers the floor, it is a sight worth seeing. 

77 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

The total value of the pearl harvest each year is at least 
a million dollars, but most of the profit goes into the 
hands of the dealers. The divers work for wages, and 
many of them are heavily in debt. In spite of the dangers 
they incur, the divers love their work, because pearl div- 
ing always has in it the element of gambling. One may 
work a whole day and find only pearls of small value, 
and then perhaps bring up a fortune in an hour. The 
most beautiful pearl I ever saw was found in the waters 
at Bahrein some ten years ago, and was sold for ten thou- 
sand dollars. It must have been to such a fortunate pearl 
diver that Browning referred in his verses : 

*' There are two moments in a diver's life : 
One when, a beggar, he prepares to plunge, 
Then when, a prince, he rises with his prize." 

The time for pearl diving is from May until the end of 
September. During the winter months the cold weather 
interferes with the work, and the men live inshore. 
Then it is that they come in crowds to our hospital, and 
we have the joy of preaching to them from the parable of 
the Pearl of great price, and no audience appreciates a 
sermon on that text as much as the men who know what 
it costs to bring up the pearls. You remember the par- 
able : ''The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that 
is a merchant seeking goodly pearls, and having found 
one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had 
and bought it." When we tell the Arabs that the Pearl 

78 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

of great price was the kingdom of God, peace and right- 
eousness and joy, which Jesus Christ purchased for us at 
the cost of His own life and now offers freely to all who 
will believe in Him, they understand something of the 
message. 

"Will you not pray for the pearl divers of Bahrein that 
many of them may find the Pearl of great price, and that 
their humble homes, — mat-huts along the shore of the 
great sea — may be made glad by the joy of a Christian 
civilization and the knowledge of our Saviour ? It is not 
hard to love them for their own sake, and I well remem- 
ber many a happy hour spent with them in their boats or 
sitting on the beach, talking over their work. Sir Edwin 
Arnold referred to them in these lines : 

' ' Dear aa the wet diver to the eyes 
Of his pale wife, who waits aud weeps on shore, 
By sands of Bahrein in the Persian Gnlf ; 
Plunging all day in the blue waves ; at night, 
Having made up his toll of precious pearls, 
Rejoins her in their hut upon the shore." 



79 



XII 

A PIONEER JOUENEY ON THE PIEATE COAST 

IT was on Saturday morning, February 9, 1901, 
that Elias, our colporteur, and I started for a jour- 
ney along the eastern coast of Arabia, and, as we 
hoped, inland. Our expectations of a long camel journey 
and the sight of villages not yet marked on the map be- 
tween the coast and Muscat were disappointed. But the 
result was a journey of 440 miles and more along the coast 
to the rocky cape that guards the narrow entrance to the 
Gulf. Our experiences were so interesting that I will re- 
late some of them to you. 

Did you ever read the droll story, '' Three Men in a 
Boat" ? "Well, we were eleven men in a boat, not to 
speak of a fine Arab horse and a yelping greyhound, pres- 
ents from the Euler of Bahrein to the Euler of Abu 
Thabi. Our boat was of the usual native style without 
any cabin or even an awning, and measured twenty feet 
across the beam and fifty from bowsprit to poop. The 
noble quadruped had the largest share of the scanty space 
midships ; the dog was confined to the forecastle lest 
prayers be impossible ; for the Mohammedans believe 
that the dog is an unclean animal, and that it is impos- 
sible to pray in any place where a dog has walked or sat 
without first washing it. The two first-class passengers 
and their boxes were on the left side of the poop j the 

80 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

crew slept, smoked, washed themselves, and ate their 
dried fish aud rice anywhere ; and the captain with a 
priest and a merchant squatted at our right. I will not 
weary your patience to relate how many days after we 
intended to start the sail was hoisted and we were off. 
One never expects a native sailing craft to leave until the 
three days of grace (aud grumbling impatience) are twice 
over. But good Abdullah bin Kambar was not alto- 
gether to blame ; two of his sailors ran away, and he had 
to look them up aud urge them on board. With a fair, 
brisk wind filling the huge sail we were all happy to start 
and forgot the delays and our dried bread baked three 
days too early. 

Our boat was bound for Abu Thabi, the first important 
town on the coast south. The wind continued favourable, 
and on Monday we were sailing between two islands, 
mere rocks and uninhabited except by a few fishermen 
during the season. A little further towards the mainland 
is the large island of Dalma, and there was a long dispute 
between the captain and the mate as to which island we 
were passing. When the words waxed warm between 
them my chart decided the dispute. This island is an old 
centre for the pearl-fishers, and every season there is a 
large gathering here of merchants and divers j a sort of 
market-place on the highway of the sea. 

The weariness of five days and nights in the boat was 
relieved in many ways. There was opportunity to read 
and plenty of interruption. 

81 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

We had our'^eals to cook and tried to fish with a 
line and hook ; once the captain hit a wild duck with his 
rusty gun, but although all helped to lower the boat and 
they pursued the wounded bird, she escaped. One day 
we saw a large shark, and that afternoon there were some 
good fish stories. At night the black slave Abdullah 
sat at the wheel and told stories as only a Negro- Arab can 
tell them j stories of the new Arabian Nights, and of how 
an Arab sharper stole a favourite horse by putting the 
bridle on his own neck and having his mate run off with 
the horse ! Several times it was our turn to lead the 
conversation, and we had a splendid opportunity to give 
"line upon line and precept upon precept." One can 
judge at once of the ignorance and open-heartedness of 
the Arab sailors by the remark they commonly make 
after they have had a missionary or colporteur for pas- 
senger : "We had no idea that Christians were such 
decent folk and even prayed to Allah." 

At three o'clock on Thursday afternoon we were in 
sight of Abu Thabi, or " father-of-the-gazelle." It was 
my first visit to this town, although Elias had been there 
before. We found the ruler kind, friendly and very in- 
telligent. We were assigned to a large room in one of 
his houses, and during our stay of four days there was 
abundance of food sent to us from the ruler's table, and 
all our wants were supplied from his beneficence, — huge 
dishes piled with rice, steeped with gravy and crowned 
with several pounds of prime roast mutton, the whole 

82 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

surrounded with dates and bread loaves, oh a large cir- 
cular mat, and ■washed down with perfumed water. We 
were never hungry. 

When the dwellers in the mat-huts heard of the arrival 
of foreigners with a medicine chest and books our room 
was filled with the curious or the ailing from early dawn 
until after sunset. That is the only drawback to their 
kindness ; the Arab idea of hospitality does not include 
the blessing of privacy for their guest. One is never left 
alone, and if you seek solitude they set you down as a 
magician, or delver into the hidden things of nature which 
are forbidden to all true believers. So we had to forego 
meditation, reading, and even the change of clothing until 
nightfall, after our long sea journey. 

It was a queer crowd that collected in the court and 
filled our little room ; a long row of Arabs sitting on the 
mats all around the four sides of the court. Most of 
them were Oman Arabs, but there was one priest from 
Mecca who had more to say than all the rest. He was a 
wanderer who wore a spotless white turban and a sneer- 
ing smile. His present residence, he said, was on the 
Island of Kais, in the Gulf, and he lived as do all of his 
kind by teaching school and copying charms for the 
ignorant. We had some discussions and more quiet talks 
together after the crowd left. It was sad to hear from 
him what dense ignorance there is regarding our religion. 
The news of Queen Victoria's death had just reached there 
and the sage from Mecca told fabulous stories of how and 

83 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

why Christians were ruled by women ! Our sales of 
Scripture were not large, but there was a demand for 
other books. One poor but learned man brought a manu- 
script copy of Al Hariri (the Arabian Shakespeare) in 
exchange for other books. 

We left Abu Thabi by sailing- boat for Debai, eighty 
miles up the coast in a straight line. The wind com- 
pelled us to go zigzag. 

This place has become the metropolis of Western Oman, 
and in population, progress, commerce and architecture 
far surpasses all the other towns. Between Abu Thabi 
and Debai the coast is desert and neither date-tree nor 
hut is seen ; so flat is the country that a hill two hundred 
feet high (the only landmark for sailors) is called "the 
High Mountain." 

We did not tarry long at Debai, although we had a 
pleasant morning at the house of the ruler and met some 
Arabs from the interior. One of them said he was will- 
ing for a proper consideration to take me all the way 
across Arabia to Jiddah, the port of Mecca. In the after- 
noon we started selling Scriptures on the outskirts of the 
town and in a very short time the crowd collected. 
Women came with copper coins and bright boys brought 
their savings to purchase Gospels — in the language of our 
trade, "the true story of the Living Prophet Jesus." 
After we left Debai on donkeys two boys who were late 
ran after us and overtook us a mile from the town ; they 
brought money and paid for three more books. The 

84 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

captain of our boat took us to his house for breakfast ou 
our arrival, and showed us some poetry his wife had 
written. She talked with us and seemed versed in the 
Koran ; we left her a Gospel. 

From Debai to Sharkeh we rode on asses, and as our 
two chests were heavy they were put, one each, on the 
backs of two other ass^ ; the distance is about ten miles. 
At Sharkeh we met old friends and were glad that even 
after a previous visit we were welcomed. An Arab 
merchant showed us much kindness and offered us a shop 
with a prophet's chamber above it for rent. Since this 
visit our missionaries often come here. From Sharkeh 
"we crossed over to Lingah, and thence back to Bahrein 
by the mail steamer, but Elias went on visiting Ajman 
and the villages beyond all the way to Eas-el- Jebel, which 
means " the top of the mountain." The Arabic version 
of the seventy-second Psalm gives the promise in this 
way : " There shall be an handful of corn in the earth on 
Eas-el- Jebel ; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon." 



85 



xni 

ACEOSS THE DESEET OF OMAN 

OMAN is a little peninsula that sticks out eastward 
from the big peninsula of Arabia, and it might 
almost be called an island. On three sides are 
the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, and 
on the west is the great sea of sand which the Arabs call 
the "empty abode," and which has never been crossed by 
any traveller as far as we know. The Arabs themselves 
are afraid to venture beyond the limits of the oases that 
touch its borders, and on all the maps of Arabia this 
desert is marked " blank and unexplored." Because the 
people of Oman for centuries past lived on such an island 
with the sea on one side and the desert on the other, they 
are quite distinct from the other Arabs. The language 
they speak has a peculiar accent, and their religion, 
although they are Mohammedans, is in many respects 
different from that of the other parts of Arabia. 

I want to tell you of two journeys taken across this 
province. Many others have been made since, and our 
medical missionaries can now visit all the villages in the 
mountains back of the coast. On May 9, 1900, a colpor- 
teur and I put our two chests of books and medicines on 
board a small sailing-boat, and at four o'clock the wind 
was favourable to leave Bahrein harbour. We intended 

86 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

to visit the pirate coast, and thence, if the way proved 
open, to cross the horn of Oman to Muscat, overland. 

The captain and crew of our boat were all strict 
Moslems, and made no secret of the fact that formerly 
they were slave-traders. Crossing by zigzag lines to the 
Persian coast to avoid shoals and catch the wind, we 
reached Bistana and then sailed across the Gulf direct for 
Sharkeh. Half-way across is the little island of Abu 
Musa, with a small Arab population, but splendid 
pasturage, good milk and water. The chief export is red 
oxide, of which there are two hills with a boundless 
supply. Steamers occasionally call here for this cheap, 
marketable ballast ; we left our witness in the shape of 
Arabic Gospels. 

On May 14th we reached Sharkeh, the chief town on 
the pirate coast. Formerly this entire region was noted 
for the savage ferocity of its inhabitants. Thanks to 
English commerce and gunboats, these fanatic people 
have become tamed ; most of them have given up piracy 
and turned to pearl-diving for a livelihood ; their black 
tents and rude rock dwellings are making room for the 
three or four important towns of Sharkeh, Debai, Abu 
Thabi, and Eas el Kheima. We found the Arabs rather 
hospitable, and quite willing to hear our message. The 
mat-hut, set apart for our use, we for seven days made 
dispensary and reception-room. Here over two hundred 
Arabs came to get medicines, buy books, or discuss the 
reason of our errand. Many were the quiet talks during 

87 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

those days with all sorts and conditions of Arabs. There 
was often no rest until long after sunset ; and no sooner 
had the muezzin called to daylight prayer than the 
visitors began to walk in again. They were a pleasant 
lot of people, and more sociable than the Arabs of Yemen, 
while less dignified than those from Nejd. 

"We heard on every side that travelling in the interior 
of Oman was safe, so, after bargaining with camel- drivers, 
we secured two companions and five camels to take us to 
Sohar for the sum of twenty rials or Arabian dollars. At 
9 p. M. on May 20 th we left, and after a short rest at 
midnight to water the camels, marched until nine o'clock 
the next day. By going as much as possible by starlight 
to avoid the heat, and resting during the day under some 
scraggy acacia tree or in the shadow of a Bedouin fort, 
we completed the distance of ninety odd miles in a little 
over four days. A large part of the way we took was 
desert, with no villages or even nomad booths ; the more 
usual route by Wady Hom being a little unsafe, we 
followed Wady Hitta. 

Sometimes our caravan would pass a camel's skeleton 
bleached by the torrid sun. When a camel grows foot- 
sore or breaks down, there is no alternative : the poor 
beast is left to die in the wilderness. The second day we 
passed villages and cultivated fields ; that night we 
spread our blankets on the soft sand, surrounded by 
thousands of sheep and goats, driven in by Bedouin lasses 
from their mountain pastures. Even among these shep- 




p^ 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

herds we found readers, and the colporteur sold books 
wherever the camels halted long enough to strike a bar- 
gain. It was late on Wednesday, May 23d, that we 
entered the narrow pass of Hitta. Our guides preceded, 
mounted, but with rifles loaded and cocked ; then fol- 
lowed the baggage camel, to which mine was ''towed," 
and in similar fashion my companion on the milch camel 
followed by its two colts. We were not troubled with the 
heat at night, but during the day it was intense, and it 
was refreshing to come to an oasis (common in this part 
of Oman) where water burst from a big spring, and trees 
and flowers grew in luxury. In the mountainous parts 
of Oman the roads run almost invariably along sandy 
watercourses or deep, rocky ravines. Tamarisks, olean- 
ders, euphorbias, and acacias are the most common trees 
and shrubs. Where the country appears almost barren, 
we were surprised to find a considerable population of 
shepherds and goatherds. Their dwellings are mere oval 
shanties constructed of boulders or rocks. In the fertile 
valleys the population always centres in villages, and 
scarcely ever is a dwelling found at any distance from 
this common centre. 

Just at the top of the pass of Hitta is the village ' Ajeeb, 
rightly named " wonderful." The view down the moun- 
tains over the fertile stretch of coast called the Batinah 
and out over the boundless Indian Ocean was grand. We 
descended to the sea, and the turbulent mountain stream, 
so cold to our bare feet as we waded it in the early dawn, 

89 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

dwindled to a brook, and at last ebbed away along the 
beacb a tiny stream of fresh water. These perennial 
streams are the secret of a coast fertile for nearly a hun- 
dred and fifty miles. 

At Shinas, on the sea, we spent a hot day. The mosque 
was our pulpit and salesroom. One graybeard took us 
to his hut after noonday prayer to offer us simple hospi- 
tality. He spoke with fervour of my brother, Peter J. 
Zwemer, who came to his village three years previous. 
From Shinas our camels took us to Sohar. At the large 
village of El Wa we were unable to stop, as the camel- 
men were afraid of smallpox, which was prevalent there. 
Every one we passed on the way was friendly to a re- 
markable degree. The women brought fresh milk and 
fruit to us ere we dismounted, and the boys, instead of 
mocking the strange foreigners, salaamed^ delighted to 
hear that in spite of our appearance we spoke Arabic. 
Not one copper did we spend for food and lodging ; it is 
the land of large-hearted hospitality. To help a sick 
child or give quinine to some ague-tormented Arab was 
to them a large return for their kindness to a "son-of- 
the-road." 

My second journey across the northern horn of Oman 
was made in May, 1901, with the same travelling com- 
panion ; and sailing from Bahrein to Abu Thabi we went 
straight east to the coast of Oman and then along its 
shores all the way to Muscat by camel. It was the long- 
est camel journey that ever I made, and when I reached 

90 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

Muscat I -was convinced that the camel is not only the 
ship, but the hardship of the desert. 

The town of Abu Thabi from which we started is situ- 
ated on a sort of island formed by the back-water of its 




#^^ 



MAP OF OMAN 

(Baaed OB Badger's; 

1871-1900 









'Seraatt^ 






SCALE OF MILES ,'*,Coppei Miaea 



23»e Missionaru Review of the World." 

harbour. A chasm about two hundred yards wide, and 
even at low water, four or five feet deep protects the 
town against desert invasion, and a fort has been built 
close to this water barrier. After our camels had waded 
through the water breast deep and nearly soaked our 
luggage, we began the desert journey. For three hours 

91 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

A R A B I A 

the road was as level as a table and equally barren ; then 
we passed some outcropping rocks called the devil's 
castle. All that day and the next we rode through 
sandy deserts with scarcely any vegetation, resting at 
noon under the shade of a blanket roped over our two 
boxes. It was hot indeed, and the water in our water 
skins had taken on a bad taste after the long and jerky 
ride. We had dates and made some soup from con- 
densed vegetables, but the Bedouins of our party caught 
big lizards and made a boiled mess of them, with rice. 
They were displeased that we did not share their meal. 

On Sunday we arrived at an Arab encampment and 
rested. They made a feast for us of fresh milk, and at 
night killed a fat kid, and made cakes baked on hot 
ashes. At nine o'clock that night we left our Bedouin 
friends, and rode on until past midnight, always due 
east by the stars. It was very cold at night in the 
desert. These extremes of temperature are trying, but 
not unhealthy. The following day we came across a 
poor nomad girl who was lost in the desert and nearly 
dying of thirst. She had been seeking for a strayed 
camel, and had then missed all traces of the road herself. 
For two days she had been alone in the desert, and had 
almost given up hope. Our guide gave her some water 
and dates and showed her the nearest way to the encamp- 
ment. All this stretch of country as far as Bereimy is a 
wide wilderness of sand for miles and miles in every 
direction ; not level sand, but sand in big folds and 

92 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

billows a hundred feet high, that change with every 
storm. 

It was a delightful change to reach the oasis of Bereimy 
with its seven villages, j oined by streams of fresh water, 
and date plantations, as well as high mango trees and 
gardens of vegetables. Beyond this oasis the mountain 
road passed numerous villages to Obri and Dank. We 
took the shorter road through Wady-el-Jazi, direct to 
Sohar. The Arabs in this part of the world are per- 
petually at war with each other. Everybody gets up 
armed and goes to bed with a rifle by his side. Even 
little boys carry a dagger in their belts, and old men will 
part with anything rather than their shotguns. We 
met with no mishap by the way, however, and reached 
Sohar safely, but we did not go to Muscat by sea because 
there was no wind. Instead we encouraged each other to 
stick to our rough camel saddles for four days more, 
which made the entire distance from Abu Thabi to Muscat 
nearly three hundred miles. 

The whole country is most interesting. In spite of 
continual warfare, the peasants seem to find time to cul- 
tivate every fertile spot, and raise all sorts of crops. 
We saw barley, wheat, sesame, vegetables and even 
tobacco. In one village we rested on the wide threshiog 
floor where the old-fashioned instrument with sharp 
teeth, of which the Bible speaks, lay idle. The Oman 
plow is much better than those in North Arabia. 
There they plow with a crooked stick, whose sharp prong 

93 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

is strong enough to break up the sandy loam, but in this 
mountain region the peasants make a real coulter of iron 
and fit it to a heavy frame, braced to an upright handle 
of three bars set at right angles. The dress of the men 
and women is quite distinct from that in other parts of 
Arabia, and their houses are built like castles. Nearly 
every well is protected by a fort, and villages only a mile 
or two apart often carry on war with each other for 
many, many years. This is the chief obstacle to travel 
in the hill country of Oman. 

Before you forget our journey across this part of Arabia, 
I want you to think of an Arab praying in the desert. 
One of the names the Arabs give to the desert is the 
*' Garden of Allah," because they say there is nothing but 
God ; no other life, or sound or scene to distract one's at- 
tention ; only the great blue vault above, without a cloud, 
and the wide stretch of sand and rock all around the 
horizon. No wonder that the desert has been God' s train- 
ing school for many of His prophets and teachers. Think 
of Moses, and Elijah and Paul and Christ. 



94 



XIV 
JAIL-BIEDS 

DID you ever hear of missionaries who were jail- 
birds? Well, that has been my experience. 
This is how it was. 

The day after Christmas about ten years ago it was 
decided that we make a tour to the mainland of Arabia 
from the island of Bahrein, our station. The picnic 
basket was packed with fresh bread and canned meats 
and good things, and we also took along extra clothing, 
a box of books and some medicines for the people. Our 
Arab servant had a hard time of it to secure a boat that 
would take us over because the people were still suspicious 
of Christians and were not at all anxious to have them 
begin work in new places. After a boat had been secured 
whose captain was willing for a good consideration to al- 
low Christians to travel with him we still waited. When 
one travels by native boat in Arabia there is always de- 
lay ; it may be a couple of hours or it may be a few days. 
Time and tide and the Arab temper are equally unreli- 
able in the Persian Gulf. It is no use fussing and get- 
ting impatient. That only makes the Arab more im- 
movable. 

At four o'clock a small boat came as close to the shore 
as the water would allow, and then we rode out on donkeys 
through the surf to the tossing boat, and in this small 

95 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

"jolly-boat " we were taken to the native ship where we 
settled on the poop-deck with all our belongings. The 
deck of this little sailing craft did not measure more than 
six feet by four, and so we had to sit close or we would 
fall overboard. The man at the tiller can manage on 
three or four square inches of room, and his bare toes 
cling to the edge of the boat just like a monkey on the 
bough of a tree. The sail was hoisted and away we went 
for about three hours. Then the wind dropped and we 
were becalmed almost in sight of shore until the next 
morning. After prayers at daybreak the sail was again 
hoisted, and the awkward paddle oars which the Arabs 
use were taken out to help increase the speed. Finally, 
after a severe struggle we arrived at our destination. 

The pretty little town of Darain stood out clearly in 
the bright sunlight, and we were glad that at last we were 
to reach the mainland of Arabia. I was the first Christian 
woman that had ever landed on this part of the coast. 
There was a ride through the shallow water of about a 
quarter of a mile, and our Arab host was kind enough to 
send out a choice of vehicles for my use, — a chair, a horse 
and a donkey. I chose the donkey as the safest and 
mounted and splashed through the surf to the land. The 
rest of our party followed. We were then conducted to 
the guest chamber in the tower, — a large airy room with 
about twenty window frames and no windows, only 
shutters ; so that when the wind blew the dust from the 
desert, the wooden shutters were fastened, and the light 

96 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

and air had to be shut out also. Our host was very 

cordial and laid no special restraint upon us, although he 

too was suspicious that we had come to begin missionary 

work in earnest in his village, — a thing which he would 

not allow. He treated us royally and with genuine Arab 

hospitality, but yet his suspicion was evident because he 

kept us away from another guest of his, the Turkish 

governor of Katif, as he did not wish him to know that he 

had friends among the Christians. After three days of 

entertainment we went on board our boat again on the 

way to Katif. "We landed there in a few hours but found 

ourselves in a real "hornet's nest." Our very best and 

most winning smiles could not melt the harshness of the 

custom-house officials. They said our passports were not 

properly made out, and the motion was soon made and 

carried that we should be returned whence we came at 

once. 

Fortunately, there was no boat ready to take us back, 

and it was not our intention to be turned back without at 

least attempting to dispose of some of the Gospels which 

we had brought with us and to win the confidence of 

some of the people. We were not despondent because 

even in this inhospitable place there was a man who was 

anxious to receive us and who invited us to come and stay 

at his home. We were so happy for a few brief hours. 

The man's wife prepared a guest meal and received 

us very courteously. They gave us a well-furnished 

room and we were delighted to see that this Moslem 

97 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

was already a Bible reader, for in one of the alcoves of the 
room was a well-thumbed New Testament. 

But no sooner did we begin to unpack our things than 
a gruff voice from below called for us to come down im- 
mediately and bring all our belongings. A lank-looking 
individual, who said he was a police agent, compelled us 
to follow him, and so we went through narrow, dirty 
alleys and smelling streets, and were finally conducted 
into the courtyard of a large tumble-down house, the 
steps all crumbling and indescribably filthy. After 
struggling up the steep, irregular stairway, we were shown 
into a small room in a part of the house quite by itself, 
which opened out on to a small roof. It had no windows 
and only one dingy door. 

A smoky lamp without a chimney was brought in 
which lit up the darkness but also showed the dirt. 
Many generations of men and insects had lived there, and 
marked up every space on the walls. When we pro- 
tested and said we preferred to stay elsewhere, we were 
told to remain ; that we were prisoners, and that we were 
not permitted to go to any other place. While my hus- 
band was led off to the governor by himself I waited. It 
took him over an hour to try to persuade the great official 
to allow us liberty, but it was all to no purpose. We 
must remain in these lodgings which he had provided. 
There were soldiers on each landing, he told us, and they 
were warned to protect us and not to let us pass out. So 

we settled down to the inevitable. The kind Arab from 

98 




Bedouin Women and their Children 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

Darain was also in Katif, and later on in the evening he 
brought the jail-birds some quilts and rugs to make them 
a little more comfortable. We did our best to rest, but it 
was almost impossible, and we were glad to see the first 
streak of dawn. Determined not to stay in the house any 
longer, we prepared a meal from our lunch basket, 
packed our few belongings and started to find our way 
to the street. The ragged individuals called soldiers 
murmured as we passed but did not stop us and we were 
out in the road and some distance from the governor's 
house when our servant whom we had not seen until now 
came after us and said we must not go ; that the governor 
wanted us and wanted us at once, 

I began to protest, but was finally persuaded to return 
and to my great surprise was conducted into a room gor- 
geously furnished where a nice-looking meal was being 
set on a small table. The governor arose and received us 
very politely, inquiring after our health and comfort. 
We swallowed our wrath and told him in the best Arabic 
possible that we were quite well and hoped his lordship 
was also. He then invited us to breakfast and would not 
accept a refusal. We wondered what would happen next. 
After we had explained our errand and stated our desire 
to sell books to the people and talk to them about religion, 
he said he would permit us to stay with the custom-house 
officer, but that we must not distribute or sell a single 
book and that a soldier must go with us wherever we 
went. It was his belief that the people might do us harm 

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ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 
unless we were well guarded, and that as they had never 
before seen Christians it was entirely unsafe for us to dis- 
tribute books or sell them among Mohammedans as 
fanatical as those in this part of Arabia. Thanking him 
for his kindness and accepting his apologies for keeping 
us as jail-birds during the night, we left his rooms and 
started walking through the streets. A soldier guard 
followed us, but when we refused to pay them for their 
service as guards and guides, they turned their backs and 
went away. And so in this land of misrule and intoler- 
ance, this uttermost province of the Turkish Empire, we 
were once more free. 



100 



XV 
THE ACOEN SCHOOL 

TO the American schoolboy a Moslem school and 
school-books would appear the dullest things 
possible. Yet the Arab boys do enjoy school 
for there is always something to distract the attention, 
especially if the teacher is a shopkeeper. "While a cus- 
tomer bargains, or the water carrier passes, or the coffee- 
house man brings the daily ''cup of cheer," or, in the 
case of a woman teacher, callers come, all eyes and ears 
are open not towards the lesson but the conversation and 
the sights. 

The earliest and only text-book is the Koran or portions 
of it cheaply lithographed on common paper. There are 
no pictures in their primers, for a Moslem tradition says 
that Mohammed cursed all who would paint or draw men 
and animals. There is neither singing nor prayer when 
school opens. Mohammed said, "Singing or hearing 
songs causeth hypocrisy to grow in the heart even as rain 
causeth corn to grow in the field." The school has no 
special building, but may be in the corner of a mosque or 
in the yard of the teacher ; or part of his shop (if he is a 
merchant) will form the schoolhouse. There is no furni- 
ture except mats and folding bookstands. These look 
like tiny sawbucks. The schoolmaster sits amongst his 

101 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

boys on the floor, and they all drone out their lessons to- 
gether. There are no grades, neither is there order in 
the schoolroom. One lad may be at the alphabet ; an- 
other one as far as counting numbers ; a third child may 
be spelling out the first chapter of the Koran, while others 
are reading from the middle of the book at the top of 
their voices. The education of a boy should begin at the 
age of four years, four months and four days. On that 
day he is taught to say the Bismillah, or opening chapter 
of the Koran. Soon after that he may be sent to one of 
the day-schools to learn the alphabet. 

When a boy has finished the reading of the whole of 
the Koran for the first time and has learned the rudiments 
of writing, he graduates from the primary school. On 
this occasion he has a rare holiday. Dressed in fine 
clothes, perhaps mounted on horseback, he visits the 
neighbours, receives gifts and sweetmeats and brings a 
handsome present to his tutor. If he does not intend to 
become a doctor of divinity or of herbs, this is the end of 
his school-days, and the lad is put to learning a trade or 
helping his parents. 

As to moral training, tradition commands pious Mos- 
lems to teach the boy of seven to say his five daily 
prayers ; at the age of ten, if he omits them they are to 
admonish him by blows. Boys are taught early the pro- 
prieties of conversation and behaviour according to 
Oriental etiquette. They are also taught the ceremonial 
washings and the correct postures for devotions. But 

102 




A Meccan Boy 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
purity of conversation and truth are seldom taught by 
precept, and never by example. 

Writing is taught on a wooden slate or in copy-books 
made by the teachers. Slates and slate pencils are prac- 
tically unknown, and the youngest child begins with a 
reed pen and ink. Caligraphy is not only a science, but 
the chief fine art in that part of the world which abhors 
painting, statuary and music. To write a beautiful 
Arabic hand is the height of youthful scholarly ambition. 

A country that has only such schools cannot progress ; 
and so the missionaries open schools with a broader 
course of study and with better training for the mind and 
heart. 

The first Christian school in East Arabia was opened in 
1899 on the veranda of the old mission house overlooking 
the sea. The little children of Ameen who was in prison 
for his faith were living with their mother in our house, 
and they needed to be taught ; two of the rescued slave 
boys from Muscat, who had come to help in the house- 
work, had some spare hours in the morning, and it was 
better for them to study than to sit around doing nothing, 
for Satan finds an awful amount of mischief for idle hands 
to do in Bahrein, and so the little school was started for 
the children in the house. We gave it the name of the 
''Acorn School" in faith that as '' tall oaks from little 
acorns grow," so some day education in Arabia would be 
what it is now in America. We had lessons for two hours 
each morning, marching, singing, etc., for the little ones, 

103 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

baby Bessie lying ou the couch near;,by while the children 
were being taught ; others wished to join, but neither ac- 
commodations nor strengtKwould allow us to enlarge our 
borders at that time. 

After some months an Arabic teacher was assigned to 
the station to teach a new missionary the language, and 
about that time we moved into a larger house. Then our 
numbers increased, and one of those early pupils was a 
young Jewish girl ; another was a Jewish^boy, who re* 
mained about three years, and was always a docile and 
clever pupil in English and Arabic ; he has a complete 
Bible in Arabic, which they read in his home. The girl 
was a great help to us in every way — first in school, and 
later in the hospital ; she is quite a changed girl and a 
superior one, and we trust the day will come when she 
will openly confess Christ and follow Him. Some 
grown-up lads were among those first scholars, and they 
came to learn English. One of the older boys was such 
an apt pupil that he was taken on the staff of the English 
Political Agent as interpreter for the Persians ; another 
advanced so far that he is able to buy and sell for the 
wholesale business, and for this reason is a great help to 
his father, a merchant in Bahrein. These boys have 
learned much of the truth along with their English, and 
neither of them now believe that the sun sets in a pool of 
black mud ! 

The reflex influence of the school is felt even in their 
homes, changing some of the habits and language. Some 

104 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

of those early scholars have gone to the Eternal Home. 
Quite a number of the missionaries and native helpers 
have helped from time to time in this school, for when 
one left, another would take up the work. The last few 
years the girls have been doing needlework and learning 
how to make their own clothes neatly. 

There are a great number of Christians and Jews, but 
the greater number in good weather are Moslems, and in 
the cool season the little room is overcrowded, and one 
teacher is very busy trying '^to keep allemployed. The 
school is still in the initial stage, but it has proved its 
right to exist, and when we look into the brightening 
faces of those who gather to be taught, and listen to the 
Scripture portions repeated and the hymns 'spiritedly 
sung, we can only say: "What hath God wrought ! " 
To outsiders the school may seem a small thing, but to us, 
who have watched its slow growth, it is encouraging. 
The teaching has always in view the honour of Christ in 
a land where His title, " Son of God," is disputed. 

If you could see our new school building you would 
know how much better off the children are who come to 
the Christian school than those who still attend the native 
schools. The rooms and the seats, and windows through 
which glorious sunshine and light shine, the blackboards 
and maps and pictures all help to educate through " eye 
gate." The boys and girls are graded and separated, for 
coeducation is not yet a good thing in Arabia. When I 
taught in the school I used to surprise the girls occasion- 

105 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

ally by bringing to school' some little treat of fruit, dates 
or candy ; and I wisli you could have heard their hearty 
" Thank you " and listened to them as they left the yard 
and went over the desert to their houses, singing at the 
top of their voices in Arabic Christian hymns which they 
had learned in school. They thought it would please me 
and impress us with their goodness. And it was good to 
hear these girls and sometimes small boys singing " My 
Faith Looks up to Thee," "Jesus Loves Me, This I 
Know," etc. And even if they did not understand the 
deep meaning nor enter into it, it gave them pleasure to 
sing the bright tunes. And while they sang, they were 
out of mischief at least. It was so new for these Moslem 
girls to have any one to care anything about them. 



106 



XVI 
THE STORY OF A ROLLER BANDAGE 

THE day was very hot, and I was very tired. 
The flies were buzzing thick around me and 
it was impossible for me to keep awake over 
the book which slipped from my fingers and fell on 
the floor. I stretched myself for one of those delightful 
noonday naps which, in spite of the heat and the flies, 
revive the life of the missionary and make him ready for 
the work of the afternoon, and as I slept, I dreamed a 
dream. 

I was walking up towards the mission hospital, when 
what should I see coming down the steps but a roller 
bandage, walking along as happy as could be, and after 
exchanging the usual Arab greeting of ''Salaam," he told 
me this story : 

" I suppose you have never heard of me before, and I 
am sure you never will unless I introduce myself and un- 
roll the story of my short but interesting life. 

" A little, round, fat body like me may have a long 
story to tell ; for when I lie at full length I measure four 
yards without stretching the truth one bit. 

"It is only six months ago, as far as I remember, that 
I was part of a fine new piece of white muslin in the 
store window of a merchant, and had no name or place or 

107 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

mission of my own in" this big world. One day the sales- 
man reached out and took the piece of muslin down. It 
was sent with a lot of other purchases to the home of a 
lady (I think her name was Phoebe or Dorcas) greatly 
interested in foreign missions. 

' ' The next thing I knew, the willing hands and deft 
fingers of a band of little folks tore me from my seven 
sisters and rolled me up so snug and tight that none would 
imagine I was only a strip of cloth. And then, when a 
bright new pin was stuck on my breast, really I began to 
feel quite important. The following day I was put into a 
pasteboard box with three dozen other roller bandages, 
and I remember hearing a short prayer, just as they tied 
down the cover, that God would bless us on our errand of 
mercy to dark Arabia. 




"Time would fail me to tell of the days we spent in the 
basement of the building of the Board of Foreign Mis- 

108 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
sions, waiting to be put in our corner of a big box, and 
of all the interesting things I learned from those who 
spoke about the heathen and Mohammedans while they 
were packing supplies for the various mission fields. 
You know I never knew there were so many doctors and 
nurses, and so many hospitals and dispensaries — not to 
speak of schools and other things under the care of our 
Board. 

''Finally, the box that was to be my prison house for 
two long months was tumbled into a dray and taken to 
the North Eiver pier. There they lifted us into the 
dark hold of a ship ; the sailors fastened down the 
hatches ; the whistle blew, and we were off for the long 
voyage. 

' ' Being a roller bandage from my earliest youth, I did 
not at all mind the motion of the vessel ; but some of the 
dolls and picture cards were all upset. 

* ' When we reached Bombay we were transferred with a 
great deal of unnecessary noise to another ship bound for 
the Persian Gulf. I remember that I was curious to know 
at which port of the Gulf I would disembark. One of 
the biggest roller bandages said he'knew, for he had heard 
the New York lady tell the children that these bandages 
were for the Mason Memorial Hospital at Bahrein, Arabia. 
All were not agreed. 

" A many-tailed bandage said he thought we were going 
to Busrah to help in the dispensary there, but a T bandage, 
which has three ends to it and is shaped like a big letter 

109 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

T, contradicted him, and there came near being a quar- 
rel. The little bandages, however, with one accord 
smoothed it over by saying : ' Wait and you will see.' 

'' The big roller bandage was right. When the British 
India steamer entered Bahrein harbour with a large cargo 
of rice and tea and Manchester goods, the missionary 
boxes got mixed up with the rest, and were put over the 
ship's side into native boats. 

' ' Such a hubbub and shouting ! I knew we were among 
Arabs and in the land of Ishmael, although I could not 
understand one word of their strange language. 

' ' From the cargo boat we were carried on the back of a 
donkey through the surf to the custom-house, and thence 
once again to the hospital. I cannot say I enjoyed the 
donkey ride. The boy who drove the beast had an awk- 
ward way of turning sharp corners in the narrow streets, 
and then the big packing case would bump hard against 
a stone wall, and give us an awful shaking. 

" It was a relief to hear the voices of our new friends. 
Soon the box was opened, and we saw daylight once more. 
The sheets and blankets were put to immediate use in the 
general ward ; the dolls put away for Christmas ; while 
we were taken to the operating-room, and put behind 
glass doors on a shelf. Even though I was not an eye 
bandage, I could easily see that we were occupying the 
best room in the entire hospital, and I distinctly heard 
one of the ladies say : ' These bandages are fine.' 

"You can imagine that we kept our eyes and ears open 

110 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

after such a welcome. Well, it was rather monotonous, 
after all. Every day, nearly, the doctor had some sort of 
eye patient on the table, and consequently the eye 
bandages put on airs of great importance. We waited 
impatiently. 

" One day a nurse came in suddenly and seized me by 
my throat and took me without ceremony to the general 
ward, a big room with twelve beds in it. 

' ' On the stretcher, in the middle of the floor, lay an 
Arab, looking very untidy and weak, and in great pain. I 
heard his story. His name was Ahmed bin Haroon, and 
he was a poor fisherman from the distant village of Zillag. 
Zillag is one of those little struggling hamlets on the 
Island of Bahrein to which the missionaries occasionally 
make zigzag journeys, visiting the people to carry them 
Gospels or to invite the sick to the hospital. The day be- 
fore, very early in the morning, while he was mending 
his nets and collecting his fish, a robber came, stabbed 
him twice in his abdomen, and taking the fish, ran away. 

* * The poor man had two nasty cuts, deep and dangerous, 
and I heard them say while cleaning the wounds that he 
would probably not live. Though he looked so ignorant 
and dirty, I really felt sorry for the poor fellow, and won- 
dered if I could be of much help. After the doctor put 
on the dressings, my turn came. In fact, I had more 
turns than I have ever had since, all in the space of five 
minutes. Eound and round that Arab they wound me 

close. But to see the look of gratitude on his face when, 

111 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

in a clean shirt and on a ^nice spring bed, with me for 
company, he opened his eyes — well, it was worth the long 
journey, I can tell you. Over our bed there was a chart 
with No. 109, and the man's name on it. There were 
also curious zigzag lines drawn every morning and even- 
ing across the chart. The doctor put these lines there, 
for I saw him do it, after inserting a fever thermometer 
in the patient's mouth. I soon learned to know whether 
the line would go up or down by counting the heart-beats 
of my companion. Of course, being so close together, we 
learned to like each other, and I one day explained to 
him how the people away off in America had sent me as 
their little missionary for his comfort. On the opposite 
side of the ward there is a picture of Christ healing a 
blind man, which we used to look at. 

*' They prayed for No. 109 and read a little to him, but I 
am sure he understood what I told him much better. You 
see, until he got hurt he was very suspicious of Christians 
and believed all sorts of foolish things about them. Now 
he talked with the other patients and watched what was 
done for him, and felt me near him ; it was a new life for 
him. His condition became more hopeful every day ; I 
knew it by the way he began to enjoy his soup. Not that 
I was with him all the time myself. No ; the other roller 
bandages had their turn, and I heard the rest of the story 
from them. Ahmed bin Haroon was discharged nearly 
cured on the first day of the Moslem fast month. He 
came back after for a visit, and is going about his work 

112 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

— the same fishermau. Only there is no telling how much 
he may think of what he saw and heard while he mends 
his nets at Zillag. And the missionaries are sure of a 
warm welcome in that village ever hereafter. 

"The day I was taken off duty and said good-bye to my 
patient I met such a lot of bandages down -stairs in the 
surgery ; there seemed no end of them ! Of course, most 
of them were common, from the Bahrein bazaar, and un- 
bleached, but they had good stories to tell, nevertheless. 
I heard it stated on good authority that over a thousand 
yards of bandages were used up in one month. And 
when I saw the number of men, women and children with 
ulcers and abscesses, sitting on the veranda that day, I 
did not doubt the fact. Only I wish I could have told it 
to that salesman in New York and to the kind lady. 
Then there would have been more of us ; for I am sure it 
is no trouble for the boys and girls to make rollers of us. 

"My end was near. In spite of all that I had done for 
the hospital, the sweeper carried me out in a bucket, and 
then, without ceremony or apology, the whole pile of us 
were set on fire, and we went up in a chariot like Elijah." 

He ended his story, and as I looked at him, I was just 
about to say : " How did you ever get back here out of 
the bucket and the fire to come and tell me your story ? " 
but when I began to speak, the bandage speedily disap- 
peared, and so did the hospital, and I awoke from my 
dream. The hospital records, however, show how the 
story of the bandage is true in every particular, 

113 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

*' Oh, what can little hands do 

To please the King of Heaven ? 
The little handa some work may try 

To help the poor in misery : 
Such grace to mine be given." 




114 



XVII 
NAJMA'S LAST CHEISTMAS 

OTJE little Arab friend, Najma, was born a long 
distance from the place where last Christmas 
was spent. Bagdad is the city, you remember, 
where Sinbad the sailor lived, and in this very city on the 
old river Tibris Najma was born. Her father and mother 
were both good Moslems and she was their first-born child, 
and yet not very welcome, because all Moslems like to 
have boy babies and not girls. They gave her the name 
of Fatima after the daughter of Mohammed, their 
prophet. When she was afterwards baptized into the 
Christian faith with her mother the name Najma was 
given her which means a "star." Her father suffered 
much persecution for changing his religion, and when he 
was sent into exile far away from his home, she with her 
mother and brothers came down the river to Busrah and 
down the Persian Gulf to Bahrein. It was a long zigzag 
journey for them by flat-bottom river boat and ocean 
steamer, and then in the little harbour boat, tacking with 
the wind to shore. 

Until the family came to us they did not know what 
Christmas meant, and of course had never celebrated it. 
When her third Christmas came, and it was her last, it 
was still a fresh and joyful occasion to her, therefore, as it 
was to all of u§ in that lonely island and amongst our lit- 

115 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

tie group of converts. Not only was it the last Christ- 
mas to Najma but for others in that company gathered to 
celebrate the birthday of our Saviour. Two other little 
voices that sang so sweetly 

" Where do all the daisies go ? 
I know, I know ! 
Underneath the snow they creep, 
Drop their heads and go to sleep. 
In the spring-time up they peep. 
That is where they go, ' ' 

were silent before the next Christmas came around. And 
then the mother of Najma who looked so strong and sat 
in the corner, interested so deeply in all the recitations 
and songs, with two others of that little company had gone 
Home before the end of the new year. 

It was Najma's last Christmas, however, that I was 
going to tell about. We had been busy all morning 
decorating the little chapel in the hospital and getting the 
simple gifts all in order for the afternoon celebration. 
Najma had not been well for a few days, suffering with 
those attacks of fever that are so common in the Persian 
Gulf. When Christmas came we thought she would not 
be well enough to attend, but she begged so hard and was 
so sure that she would be all right that we sent around a 
donkey to her home ; and when her mother had put on all 
her new garments, so bright and pretty, she rode to the 
hospital. Although she was weak, when she came with 
the other children she brightened up considerably and 

116 




A Bedouin Girl playing peek-a-boo on a camel 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

took a keen interest in everything, even helping to sing 
the Christmas carols. When the others had said their 
pieces, she insisted on saying hers and repeated beauti- 
fully the whole fifty-first Psalm. Then she waited until 
the refreshments were served — that most important part 
of a Christmas celebration— and afterwards wishing 
everybody a Happy Christmas she was placed on the 
back of the donkey and went home. , 

I wish you could have seen our Christmas tree on that 
occasion. It consisted of a number of palm branches tied 
together and the gifts were hung from the spikes of the 
branches, — presents old and new for all who came. Most 
people would have been surprised at the absence of dolls, 
but in Arabia these have to be given out sparingly and 
judiciously because some of the Moslems are too much 
afraid of idol worship to appreciate dolls in their homes. 
Therefore, we gave the children writing pads and pencils, 
books and toys, beads and new dresses, small bags of rice 
for the poorer scholars, — something for everybody. How 
joyfully each received his or her gift ! 

Najma gathered up all the little things given to her 
and kept them close by her side all the next day and 
took a great deal of pleasure in them ; but in the even- 
ing of that day we were suddenly called out to see her 
and found her dying from heart failure following that 
week of fever. It was a surprise and a shock to us all. 
In spite of her faults those who knew her best could not 
help loving her. With tremendous difficulty she learned 

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ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

to read the Gospel and was very proud of her attainment 
as it is only one girl in a thousand among the Arabs who 
can read. To lose such a bright little Arab girl seemed 
very sad at that time, but God makes no mistakes, and 
we are so glad that this little girl had such a bright 
Christmas as her last on earth. Think of the children 
who are in the hospital to-day, many of them for the first 
time in contact with Christians, and that some of them 
have never yet had their first Christmas in Arabia. 
There are many, many little girls in this neglected coun- 
try who would enjoy a Christmas so much if only they 
knew as Najma did about the Babe born in a manger 
for their sakes. It is nineteen hundred years ago that 
He came to the world as its Saviour and yet there are 
so many countries where the boys and girls have not yet 
heard of His coming. 

If we would win the whole, round world for Jesus we 
must tell His story all around the earth and give every- 
body a chance to read the story of His life. Do you re- 
member those beautiful verses of Father Tabb in regard 
to the First Christmas ? 

" A little Boy of Heavenly birth 
And far from Home to-day, 
Comes down to find His ball, the earth, 
"Which sin has cast away. 
Come, comrades, let us one and all 
Join in to get Him back His ball." 



118 



XYIII 
THOSE WHO HAVE NEVEE HEAED 

IF all Arabia is to hear.tlie story of the Gospel, there 
are many zigzag journeys yet to be made. The 
country is much larger than most people imagine, 
and a great part of it is still unexplored. Fortunately 
the unexplored sections of the great peninsula are nearly 
all uninhabited as far as we know, but no one has been 
there to see or investigate. If you were to travel from 
New York to Chicago and back on a camel, the distance 
would be about as great as to cross Arabia once in its 
broadest direction. Topsy Turvy Land is three times as 
large as the state of Texas, the largest state in the Union. 
It is nearly as large as all British India, excluding Burma, 
and if you spread Arabia out on the map of Europe, 
without tucking in the corners, you could cover the whole 
of France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, 
Italy, Austria, Servia, Eoumania, and Bulgaria. 

The population of this great stretch of country with its 
table-lands and deserts, its villages and encampments, is 
perhaps eight million ; and just as Arabia, with its four 
thousand miles of coast, has only three lighthouses for 
ships that pass in the night, so the light of the Gospel is 
shining in only a very few places along the coast, and 
hardly at all in the interior. At Aden, and Muscat, and 

119 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

Bahrein, and Kuweit and Busrah, as well as along the 
rivers as far as Bagdad, there are lighthouses of the 
Gospel. Although only like little candles burning in 
the night, they can be seen from a lon^ distance. Patients 
come for hundreds of miles to the hospitals, and when 
they go away, carry the gospel message for hundreds of 
miles back to their villages. And yet what are these 
few stations for so large a territory, and what can less 
than forty missionaries do among so many people ? 

When the great Missionary Conference met at Edin- 
burgh in 1910 and the report was made on How to Carry 
the Gospel to all the non-Christian World, it stated that 
'* Of the eight million inhabitants of Arabia, it is entirely 
safe to say that fully six million are without any mission- 
ary agency. ' ' One can travel from Bahrein across the 
mainland for 1,150 miles without meeting a missionary 
or a mission station, all the way to Aden. On the entire 
Eed Sea Coast, as well as the south coast between Aden 
and Muscat, there is no mission work. Of the six prov- 
inces of Arabia, only three are occupied by mission 
stations. 'No one has ever preached the Gospel at Mecca, 
where Mohammed was born, or at Medina, where he lies 
buried, and although some ninety thousand pilgrims from 
every part of the Moslem world pass through Jiddah 
every year on their way to Mecca, this important city is 
still waiting for an ambassador of Jesus Christ. 

Perhaps the most neglected class in this great neglected 
country are the Bedouins, or nomads. Like Ishmael of 

120 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

old, ** their hand is against every man, and every man's 
hand is against them." Hated alike by the town dwell- 
ers and the Turks, they are the roving gypsies of the 
Orient, and yet they are so numerous and so closely bound 
together by tribal ties that sometimes one can see their 
black tents spread out in vast encampments like a city 
of tabernacles in the wilderness. 

It is a strange life these children of Ishmael lead, a life 
full of its joys and sorrows and desert hardships. Under 
the shadow of a black tent, or the shade of an acacia 
bush, or perhaps behind a camel, the Arab baby first 
sees the daylight. As soon as it is born, its mother gives 
it a sand-bath, and the father gives it a name. For the 
rest, it is allowed to grow up much as it pleases. Trained 
from birth in the hard school of fatigue and hunger and 
danger, the Bedouin children grow up saucy and im- 
pudent, but with cunning and a knowledge of all the 
ways of the desert and the life of the caravans. 

The Bedouin children have no books nor toys. They 
play with dead locusts or dried-up camel's bones ; they 
make whistles out of desert grass, and love to use the 
sling as David did, with pebbles from the brook when he 
killed the giant. The girls help in the hard work of 
drawing water, making butter and driving the camels to 
and from pasture. Although they cannot read, and have 
no picture books, they all of them study without ceasing 
the great picture book of nature, and their little dark 
eyes, whether watching the sheep at pasture, or counting 

121 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 

tlie stars in the blue abyss from their perch on the lofty 
camel saddle in the midnight journeyings, are never at 
rest. 

In some parts of Arabia, Bedouin women when they 
travel ride on a camel saddle called a howdij, which pro- 
tects them from the gaze of strangers. Sometimes they 
play peek-a-boo, as the camel trudges along. In many 
respects their life is most unhappy. Doughty and other 
travellers believe that over one-half of the nomad popula- 
tion seldom know the blessing of a full meal. When they 
hear from the lips of Western travellers of countries where 
there is bread and clothing and peace, and water in great 
abundance, they are surprised, and contrast the condition 
of other nations with their lives of misery. One of them, 
after listening to Doughty' s description, threw his hands 
up, and uttered this prayer, "Have mercy, O Allah, 
upon Thy creature whom Thou createdst ! Pity the 
sighing of the poor, the hungry, the naked. Have mercy, 
have mercy upon them, O Allah!" Who can help 
saying "Amen" to the nomad's prayer? We cannot 
judge them harshly when we remember that they have 
never had a fair chance, and that for centuries warfare 
and plunder have been their daily life. I remember with 
much interest a Sunday I spent in the black tents of 
Kedar, with a crowd of nomads sitting around. They 
were most hospitable, and brought in great wooden bowls 
of fresh milk, with butter floating in it, dried dates and 
bread baked on the coals ; then, when our appetites were 

122 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 
satisfied, they listened, oh, so eagerly, as I told them for 
the first time the old, old story of Jesus Christ's birth, and 
death and resurrection. Some of them were so ignorant 
that they had never heard of a cross, and I remember 
taking two twigs from the ground and showing them how 
our Saviour was crucified for our sins, according to the 
Scriptures. No one has visited that tribe in Oman since 
my journey eight years ago. How long must they and 
others wait for Christian teachers'? Shall the Bedouin 
babies have a better chance than their mothers had ? 

The kingdoms and governments of this world have 
frontiers which are guarded and must not be crossed 
without permission, but the kingdom of Jesus Christ has 
no frontier. It has never been kept within bounds. It 
has a message for the whole race, and the very fact that 
there are millions of people in the heart of Arabia who 
have never heard, becomes the strongest of reasons why 
we must carry that message to them. Difficulties and 
dangers should not hold us back. They did not hold 
back Jesus Christ when He made the long journey to our 
lost world. He depends on us to finish His work. As it 
is written : 

"They shall see to whom no tidings of Him came, 
And they who have not heard shall understand," 



"O Zion, haste, thy mission high fulfilling, 
To tell to all the world that God is Light ; 
That He who made all nations is not willing 

> One sonl should perish, lost in shades of night. 
123 



ZIGZAG JOURNEYS 

ARABIA 



"Publish glad tidings ; 
Tidings of peace ; 
Tidings of Jesus, 
Bedemptiou and release." 



124 



IN THE CAMEL COUNTRY 

ARABIA 

ARABIA. 




A 

Go! her 

Go! her 

A ■ ra 



bi-a( A • 

aids of the 

aids of your 

■ bi.a! A 



ra - bi-a! For thee ourpray'rsas - cend, 
g-os - pel,g-o! Urgi;d by your Mas - ter's love, 
Sa- viour,send The mos-sag^* far and near, 
ra • bi-a! Up - on thy dark -est night. 




That soon theful-ness of Gods love. And light on thee de --scend. 

Let ev - 'ry A - rab cap -tiye know. He lives— .the God of love. 

Till ev' - 'ry Moslem heart shall bend In ho - ly.revereud fear.- 

The Sun ^ of RighteoBsness a« cends; He^comes to give lliee .light. 




From O - man's cliffsto^ , Ye -man's strand Thy truth from sea to 

His truth proclaim, His "^man-dales name.Sal - va- tion's offering- bring-; 

Speed! mes - sen-gers "of peace.speed on! Gods promised truth make known; 

Be - fore , Him shall the* cres -cent wane. Him ev - 'ry king shan bless; 




Make known 
Till ev 
Chil - dren 
The wild 



to'ev-'ry A rab band, O Lord! and make ihem free, 
'ry soul shall learii His fame, Afld crown the Saviour— King, 
of Ishmael , Ha gjirs son , Go! claim them as God's own. 
er-ness shall praise His naj«e,The isles His love con - fess. 




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